Chelsea youngster Kendry Paez has suffered a serious shoulder injury whilst on loan at River Plate in South America.
Back in England, Liam Rosenior's Blues passed up the opportunity for maximum points at Stamford Bridge once again on Saturday afternoon, when they failed to beat relegation-threatened Burnley in the Premier League.
The world champions took the lead early on in the contest courtesy of a sliding effort from Joao Pedro, before the visiting Clarets managed to seal a share of the honours late on when Zian Flemming headed home a corner.
Chelsea have collected a mediocre five points across three top-flight contests against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leeds United and Burnley in February, damaging the Londoners' chances of securing Champions League football next season.
After an arguably-favourable run of fixtures, the perceived difficulty levels are set to rise for Rosenior's troops, who travel to both league leaders Arsenal and third-placed Aston Villa at the beginning of March.
Chelsea starlet Paez suffers shoulder injury
After 19 minutes on debut for struggling River Plate on February 13 against Argentinos Juniors, Chelsea loanee Paez came on at half time during his side's 1-0 defeat at Velez Sarsfield on the weekend.
The Argentinian giants were a goal behind in the contest at the break following an opening strike from Sarsfield's Manuel Lanzini, who spent time in the Premier League at West Ham United between 2015 and 2023.
Blues youngster Paez could only manage 25 minutes in the second period before suffering the shoulder injury, falling awkwardly following a collision with an opposition player as River Plate chased an equaliser.
According to The Standard, the 18-year-old's injury is 'serious' and could rule him out of contention to feature for Ecuador at this summer's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Post-match, Paez was pictured wearing a hefty-looking sling on his left shoulder, clearly signalling the area of the problem to all of those inside Estadio Jose Amalfitani and supporters watching on TV.
© Imago / Antonio Balasco
Potential Rosenior favourite
As is the case with the host of Chelsea youngsters, Paez will be hoping to eventually carve a route into the first-team thinking at Stamford Bridge, where there is currently a familiar face in the dugout.
Rosenior and the 18-year-old attacking midfielder worked together during the first half of the 2025-26 campaign, with the South American on loan at Strasbourg from the Premier League Blues.
The Chelsea head coach is known to be an admirer of Paez, who made a total of 21 appearances for the French side, scoring once across 15 matches for the sister club of the West Londoners in Ligue 1.