On January 9th, journalist Mustafa Karataş reported Chelsea’s Kendry Páez is close to joining Ipswich Town in the winter market.
The Ecuador international, currently on loan at RC Strasbourg, won’t join Ipswich Town. There was expectation for him to finish the season in France, but that won’t happen.
L’Equipe report the Chelsea owned player will leave the Ligue 1 side to join River Plate.
That’s all the French newspaper has to say on him. The Argentine press have backed up this claim and share more details on this operation.
The 18-year-old’s impending arrival at River Plate has surprised TyC Sports, who say this is a ‘bombshell’ signing.
According to them, Páez will join the Argentine club on loan until the end of this year. TyC Sports add there’s no purchase option or obligation, and the Blues won’t receive a loan fee.
TNT Sports in Argentina also report River Plate have closed the ‘bombshell’ deal to sign the Chelsea man. Journalist Maxi Grillo provided this update, and he isn’t certain about the duration of the loan deal.
Argentine journalist César Luis Merlo took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share more updates.
He also claimed River Plate won’t pay a loan fee and won’t have an option to make Páez’s stay permanent. According to Merlo, the South American will travel to Argentine on Thursday.
Chelsea player to arrive today for medical
River Plate
River Plate
River Plate manager Marcelo Gallardo now confirms the Chelsea forward will arrive in Argentina today. Bolavip have relayed his comments.
“I can confirm it. Tomorrow [Thursday] morning, if all goes well, he will be arriving in the country. He will join us for his medical and then join the squad. He’s a player we’ve been watching; as everyone knows, he’s a young talent who emerged very quickly and went to a major club like Chelsea,” he said.
“He hadn’t been getting much playing time, and we considered him in the last transfer window, but it didn’t work out. We had been in contact, Chelsea thought of us. They are loaning the player to us free of charge because they believe he has room for development and that the best option is for him to have the opportunity to develop with us.”
The manager also confirmed he’s spoken to the Ecuadorian.
“I spoke with the player; he’s excited,” Gallardo explained.
“He knows he’s coming to a great, very demanding club. We signed an 18-month contract, which is good because he’ll have the opportunity to get to know Argentine football, the River Plate world, and what we expect in terms of our style of play. We hope to give him the tools he needs to continue growing, just like we do with our 18-year-olds.”