Club director confirms Man Utd bid for Ecuadorian wonderkid Kendry Paez as summer transfer confirmed

Chelsea have beaten Manchester United to the signing of an Ecuadorian wonderkid.

In April it was widely reported that Chelsea had reached a verbal agreement to sign 16-year-old midfielder Kendry Paez, in a deal believed to be worth £17.5million.

Paez will not be able to join the Blues until he turns 18 in the summer of 2025 however.

Independiente del Valle director Santiago Morales confirmed that Chelsea had completed the deal for one of South America’s brightest stars.

Morales said via Standard Sport: “Today, I can say that Kendry Paez, in two years, will go to Chelsea.”

The director added Paez is signing for the Blues ahead of United and Borussia Dortmund.

Morales said: “We received offers from Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United, Chelsea were the team that showed the most interest.”

Paez came to the attention of Europe’s elite clubs after being named the outstanding player at the Next Generation Trophy tournament in Austria last year. He is already a member of the Independiente first team, the club from whom Brighton signed Moises Caicedo in 2021.

Man Utd hope not to repeat Caicedo error

Man Utd will hope they are not repeating past errors, having opted not to sign Caicedo for just £4.5million back in 2021.

At the time United and Liverpool were both competing for the midfielder’s services, but a transfer was deemed too complicated to complete as it involved a host of intermediaries and agents all demanding commissions.

It was reportedly unclear who truly represented Caicedo and who was just looking to make a small fortune from the deal.

CBS journalist Ben Jacobs tweeted in September: “Liverpool's interest in Moises Caicedo is long-standing dating back to his time at Independiente del Valle.

“The challenge back then was a complicated representation situation with a number of agencies (including Kancha and PSM) claiming to act on his behalf.

“Although the fee Brighton eventually paid was low (£4.5million) the agent fees were high. That put off Liverpool and Manchester United, too.”