Schalke returnee Baba Rahman has revealed he kept on staying in touch with the Bundesliga outfit when he was in the treatment room.

The Ghana international had his first loan spell terminated in January last year after picking up a knee injury at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon.

''I kept in touch with Breel Embolo, Nabil Bentaleb and Benjamin Stambouli a lot, but also with a few others. We sent each other messages and photos all the time,'' the Chelsea-owned told the Schalke website.

''Nearly every day I got a message off of one of the boys to say that I should come back. Even Christian Heidel and sporting director Axel Schuster were asking me how I was.

''But most of all I’d say I stayed in contact best with Axel Schuster.''

Rahman also revealed his decision to re-sign for the Royals Blues was not a difficult one.

He added: ''Nope, the decision was really easy for me. I had a great time in Schalke last year. The people here love the club, there’s a great atmosphere around the team and the boardroom staff love to get involved.''