Kendry Páez joins River, faces French criticism over Strasbourg spell | OneFootball

The newspaper L’Equipe published an article about the Ecuadorian’s departure and was very harsh regarding his life off the pitch. “He paid for his lifestyle and was not well supervised,” the article states.

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

Regarded as one of the greatest 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 youngster of the tournament, his performance plummeted and he ended up with virtually no minutes in the final 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 pitch. “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.” Furthermore, the French outlet blamed Strasbourg for the lack of control over Páez’s off-field life. “He was poorly supervised and never really managed to establish himself,” they criticized the club.

Liam Rosenior, now Chelsea’s coach but previously at Strasbourg, had shown clear disappointment with Kendry due to his poor performance. “Now that they have playing time, there are no more excuses. We expect more, clearly. I’m tired of using youth as an excuse for the players,” he said in December. His departure did not change the scenario nor, much less, open the door for a return to London.

His successor, Gary O’Neil, had stated that he hoped to count on him until the end of the season. However, he gave him just one minute of play in the last three matches and ended up agreeing with management and Chelsea to terminate the loan. Thus, he arrives at River, after two clubs decided to let him go this year and surrounded by criticism over 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.