Chelsea have completed the final details of their move to sign Ecuadorian wonderkid Kendry Paez from Independiente del Valle. The Blues first made their move in February and with only his contract left to sign will welcome the teenager to the club in 2026 when he turns 18.
The midfielder was on the radar of Manchester United and Manchester City, with Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid also linked, but Chelsea have furthered their plans to bring the most exciting young talent to the club with the signing of Paez.
Prospects such as Andrey Santos, David Datro Fofana, Gabriel Slonina and several others have arrived in west London since Todd Boehly became Chelsea co-owner in May 2021. Paez now looks set to become the latest to join that growing list in a package that could reach €20m (£17.6m), as reported by Fabrizio Romano.
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Paez was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador's second-largest city, and has been part of the youth setup at Independiente del Valle, a club located just outside the nation's capital of Quito, for much of his life. In 2019, according to El Universo, the midfielder scored 39 goals in 106 games from 2018 and 2022. On an international level he has already receiving a call-up to the Ecuador under-17s squad - where he has three goal contributions in three games.
Many Chelsea fans would have watched the South American U20 Championship in the last month as January signing Santos led Brazil to glory. The tournament has a reputation of having scouts in attendance to snap up the continent's best young talents but Paez was not involved in the tournament to allow his transition to the first team run smoothly.
Chelsea recently lost out in the transfer race for another wonderkid with Real Madrid signing Palmeiras wonderkid Endrick, but Todd Boehly and co. look to have made the latest statement signing for the future in Paez.
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