Poor old Kendry Paez. It was all looking so bright for him.
Chelsea signed him for €10m years ago as a true wonderkid, playing as a 15 year old in Ecuador and starting for the national team not long after.
Since then it’s been a long wait for him to come to Europe, and in that time Estevao Willian overtook him as the thrilling young South American we’re all most excited about.
Paez future in doubt after false start in Europe
Finally he came across the Atlantic this season, with a move to our sister club Strasbourg looking a natural next step. But it’s simply not worked out. A piece from FootMercato today outlines his struggles to adapt and to convince Liam Rosenior that he’s up to the level yet.
They noted that, even in the Europa League and Coupe de France recently he stayed on the bench.
“However, on Friday, L’Équipe questioned whether the player might even finish the season in France,” they write, with the youngster’s “lifestyle” being called into question too. He’s still so young and has plenty of talent, but this is quite the false start to life in Europe.
Any hopes of him coming into Chelsea’s first team squad next season already look ridiculous – he may need to drop to a lower level than Strasbourg to find his feet. It could be years before we see him at Stamford Bridge.
In other news…
A young player who could be going on loan is Sam Rak-Sakyi, but there is a very important reason why he’s got to sort things out at home before he goes.
There are much more likely to be departures than additions – if Chelsea buy anyone at all, we expect it to be a young player for the future, and not for much money.
