"They go around the world buying up the best young players and they're going to carry on doing that,” reflected Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol during Todd Boehly's excessive January spending at Chelsea.
The latest addition to enforce this strategy is Kendry Paez, who has joined the Blues from Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle for £17m.
The 16-year-old will join his new club in the summer of 2025 when he reaches his 18th birthday.
Although given Chelsea’s mind-boggling and horrendous slump into mid-table mediocrity, the signing of a relatively unknown South-American entity may not provide the excitement that many fans are currently craving, but the youngster is an extraordinary talent, with a huge future ahead of him.
Who is Kendry Paez?
The teen is a record breaker and the new, up-and-coming jewel of Ecuadorian football. He is the youngster debutant and goalscorer of his nation’s top flight when he netted on this joyous occasion in a 3-1 victory in February.
Internationally, the playmaker has also excelled – at the 2023 South American U17 Championship in March 2023, he was captain of his side, scoring twice and assisting six. Due to his string of impressive performances, he was named the top talent at the Next Generation Trophy last year.
The teen was promoted to a higher age group and he recorded four goal involvements at this summer’s U20 World Cup.
His current manager Martin Anselmi has heaped praise upon the generational gift and said: “In Kendry we find someone daring. A boy who asks for it. He doesn’t care who is in front of him.
“He is a different type of player. It is not normal for a 15-year-old boy in the first division to have earned the respect of the soccer world in such a short time.
“He runs, recovers, interprets the game, he is very intelligent. All his movements are trained, he carries them out perfectly, understands the game very well.”
Is Kendry Paez shades of Jamal Musiala?
A mesmeric dribbler with impudent vision and magical close-control, as well as a youth career in West London – the two prodigies share an abundance of similar traits, but the minor difference is that Musiala left Chelsea at the age of 16, whilst his positional peer is joining at the same age.
The German has expertly displayed his incredible skill over the past two seasons and in a World Cup match against Costa Rica, he was at his untameable, hypnotic best.
The sensation recorded a ridiculous 13 successful dribbles, the second-most ever recorded in the tournament’s history and this type of raw ability is something that Chelsea have painfully lacked in forward areas and will hugely benefit Mauricio Pochettino.
Paez will have another two years to develop in his homeland and when he returns he is likely to be an unstoppable force.
To summarise his similarities to Musiala, the teen boasts "incredible class" – as lauded by scout Jacek Kulig – with an innate skill for unlocking a defence.
Like the German, Kulig notes Paez's strongest attributes as his technique, dribbling and ball control, all qualities that set Chelsea's former academy product apart in the current day.