Chelsea-owned Kendry Paez has officially left Strasbourg for River Plate, and by all accounts he won’t be welcomed back in France.
Former Ecuadorian international Carlos Tenorio once said of his countryman: “He has everything to be better than Leo Messi, better than Neymar, but it depends on him and those around him.”
Such comments and also a number of sublime performances not only raised hope in London, but also Strasbourg, the fellow BlueCo-owned side where he spent the first-half of the 2025/26 season.
Why it was only a half is rather easy to explain, with not only leading European outlet L’Equipe detailing Kendry’s missteps, but also former Strasbourg head coach Liam Rosenior.
L’Equipe detailed as much in a scathing article titled: “Nightlife, Lack of Professionalism, Poor Management: Kendry Páez in Strasbourg, Chronicle of a Failure Foretold.”
While the credit Paez for integrating well into the dressing room, it was nights out, trips to Germany and even Disneyland Paris that caused issues.
‘Bad company’ was blamed for his failures, but trips that included plenty of alcohol and laughing gas led the outlet to say Paez was ‘More present in the crime pages than in the sports pages’.
Even Rosenior criticised Kendry Paez
Calling him ‘a precocious talent who didn’t understand what European football demands’ this wasn’t just gossip, as Rosenior agreed.
“There are no more excuses,” he said. “I’m tired of justifying everything with the players’ youth.”
Whatever happens at River, we can be pretty sure Paez won’t be returning to Chelsea under current management.
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