According to South American sources, Kendry Paez may be loaned by Chelsea to KV Mechelen. Paez is a nineteen-year-old attacker from Ecuador and is under contract at Chelsea. The club acquired him from Independiente a year ago for 10 million euro. Chelsea has previously loaned him to Strasbourg in France and to River Plate in Argentina.

According to Ben Jacobs, meetings will take place in the coming weeks to discuss whether to shorten Kendry Paez’s loan at River Plate. A decision has not yet been made, but the matter will be discussed this summer, even though the loan runs until the end of the year.

The 18-year-old Ecuadorian attacking midfielder has 23 caps for his country and has recorded one goal and no assists in 14 Ligue 1 appearances this season. He has been linked with Ipswich Town. The fee for his completed transfer to Chelsea was cited as €10 million in June 2025, although reports from August to October 2024 suggested a higher fee of up to €20 million. His current market value is listed by Transfermarkt as €10.00m. Graeme Bailey stated his belief that this is the beginning of the end of the player's Chelsea career, explaining that because the player has not been impressing at Strasbourg, Bailey does not see a chance for him to impress at Chelsea in the short term.