Kendry Páez joins River amid French criticism over his time at Strasbourg | OneFootball

The newspaper L’Equipe published an article about the departure of the Ecuadorian and was very harsh about his life off the field. "He paid for his lifestyle and was not well supervised," the article states.

The news surprised everyone: Kendry Páez, the 18-year-old Ecuadorian gem, arrives on loan to River for the next 18 months from Racing de Strasbourg. The excitement over his arrival contrasts with the criticisms published by the prestigious French newspaper L’Equipe, which headlined an article about his departure in a damning manner: "Night outings, lack of professionalism, poor supervision: chronicle of an announced failure".

Considered one of the great promises of South American football in the last decade, the youngster was bought by Chelsea at 16 and, without debuting in England, was loaned to the Ligue 1 team in mid-2025. After a good start, in which he was recognized in September as the most promising youth of the tournament, his level plummeted, and he ended up with practically no minutes in the last matches of the year.

Beyond the inconsistency of his performance, something logical given his young age and his need to adapt to the French environment, L’Equipe pointed directly to his life off the field. "He has paid for his lifestyle and lack of professionalism: numerous night outings in Germany or Strasbourg, especially at the La Salamandre nightclub, and multiple visits to Disneyland Paris", it highlighted.

And it added: "He appeared more often in the General Interest pages (parties, alcohol, nitrous oxide balloons) than in the sports pages". Additionally, the French media blamed Strasbourg for the lack of control over Páez's life outside of football. "He was poorly supervised and never really managed to consolidate himself", they criticized the club.

Liam Rosenior, now Chelsea's coach but previously at Strasbourg, had shown clear disappointment with Kendry for his poor level. "Now that they have game time, there are no more excuses. We expect more, clearly. I am tired of using the youth excuse for the players", he said in December. His departure did not change the scenario nor, much less, open the door for him to return to London.

His successor, Gary O’Neil, had assured that he expected to count on him until the end of the season. However, he barely gave him a minute of play in the last three games and ended up agreeing with the management and the people at Chelsea to end the loan. Thus, he arrives at River, after two clubs have decided to discard him for this year and amid criticisms about the lack of control in his private life.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.