Official: River Plate sign Kendry Páez on loan from Chelsea after RC Strasbourg recall

Kendry Páez’s first foray into European football has not gone too well, with the 18-year-old midfielder trading loan assignments today, switching from RC Strasbourg in the French top division to River Plate in the Argentinian one, for the entire 2026 season. That’s still a step up from the Ecuadorian league where he had played the last couple years while waiting to turn 18 and complete his move to Chelsea.

That move was agreed two years prior to that, when Páez was just 16. While it would be fair, if a bit harsh to say that he’s not quite lived to the expectations that surrounded him at that time, he’s still only just a teenager. The move back to South America should lower the pressure a bit, and hopefully keep him in the frame for the Ecuador squad for the World Cup as well.

Páez had made 21 appearances for our sister club (20 of those under now Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior), though only 7 were starts. Since Rosenior’s departure, under new Strasbourg head coach Gary O’Neil, Páez had played just one minute in three games — despite one of those games being in the Cup against lower-league opposition.

Kendry’s move frees up a spot at Strasbourg for another potential loan from us (not necessarily related to anything to do with Mamadou Sarr or any shuffling of defenders we might do). As things stand, with the earlier recalls of David Datro Fofana and Aarón Anselmino, only four of our six international loan spots are filled (Mike Penders and Sarr at RCSA, Páez at River, and Nicolas Jackson at Bayern Munich).