Barcelona have made it a point to identify and sign young talents coming through in the South American region. They have already roped in Lucas Roman earlier this year while being linked to several young prospects like Gianluca Prestianni, Kaua Elias, and more prominently, Vitor Roque.
Another player who had been on the radars of Barcelona but is set to join Chelsea, according to Joaquim Piera of SPORT is Ecuadorian wonderkid Kendry Paez.
Just 15 years old, the left-footed attacking midfielder has been making all the right noises in South American football. The teenager has already made his first-team debut for Independiente del Valle and has even scored a goal in his three appearances so far.
Currently, Paez is representing the Ecuadorian national team at the South American U-17 Championships.
As per the report from Joaquim Piera, Barcelona had very good reports on the 15-year-old Paez. However, their financial limitations meant that they could not make a move for him and he ended up agreeing to a transfer to Chelsea.
The report adds that missing out on Paez’s signing has internally hurt the Blaugrana a lot as they handled very good reports on the 15-year-old.
But, there was no way the Catalans could compete with Chelsea who threw €20 million to sign Paez, even though he will only be able to arrive at the club in 2025, once he turns 18 years old.
The Blues even received approval from the English FA and the Premier League over Paez’s signing earlier this week and an official announcement is likely to follow soon.
Barça missed out on Endrick’s signing to Real Madrid and were beaten to Andrey Santos’ capture by Chelsea in January. The Blues are now set to capture another young talent that had been on the Blaugrana’s radar in the form of Kendry Paez.
With Chelsea also pushing to sign Vitor Roque in the summer, Barcelona will be hoping that they can prevail in that transfer battle.
