26 February 2023 , 11:56
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Chelsea have reached a verbal agreement to sign Ecuadorian wonderkid Kendry Paez from Independiente del Valle, it's been claimed.
The 15-year-old midfielder, who was born in May 2007, is said to have been on Manchester United, Manchester City and Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen 's radar, while Real Madrid were also linked with interest. Chelsea, however, appear to have won the hotly-contested race for Paez, who's regarded as one of the most promising talents in South America.
Reports from Italy say that a deal has been stuck with Independiente, increasing Blues chief Todd Boehly 's £600million spending spree. Unfortunately for Blues fans, they won't be able to see him action for their club until he turns 18 on May 4, 2025. Earlier this month, The Sun claimed that Chelsea had seen a £14.8m bid rejected, meaning that Paez will likely cost the Blues more than £15m.
The Independiente starlet, following in the footsteps of Brighton ace and Chelsea transfer target Moises Caicedo, has already been integrated into the club's first-team and represented Ecuador at under-17 international level. With three goals in five caps, Paez quickly alerted Europe's elite and is now due to follow fellow South American teenagers Andrey Santos and Malo Gusto in making the move to west London.
His signing adds to Boehly's conveyor belt of arrivals since becoming the Blues' co-controlling owner last April, with RB Leipzig hotshot Christopher Nkunku due to join the club in the summer after a €60m (£52m) fee was agreed. Chelsea's extravagant spending has seen them heavily criticised, but right-back Reece James insists that his bosses are investing for the future as well as the present.
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"I don't think there’s a trophy we can't win," James, 23, recently affirmed to Sky Sports. "When that happens I don't know, but with the team we’re building and what the club is turning into with all the young players. Once we have played together for a longer period of time I think we're going to be one of the best teams in the world."
Kendry Paez is regarded as one of the brightest talents in South America (Franklin Jacome/by Agencia Press South/Getty Images)Have your say! Will Paez prove to be a good signing for Chelsea? Join the debate in the comments section.
Under-fire manager Graham Potter admittedly doesn't have full control over transfers, despite Boehly and those in the club hierarchy maintaining the belief that he's the man to lead the Blues back to glory. "I don't think it's as simple as saying they're [my targets]," Potter, who replaced Thomas Tuchel in September and welcomed seven signings in January amid a run of poor results, told BT Sport.
"For the head coach, it's very difficult to also have command over these targets and have a list of players that are 'yours'. I think my job is to support the club, which is a recruitment team, ownership group, whether it's transfers, daily environment, or winning matches.
"It's a club, we're trying to win together as a club. Whilst I have an input on everything, I'm not the guy that sits in a room and decides everything."