Chelsea prospect could be ‘better than Messi and Neymar,’ says former Ecuador international | OneFootball

There’s a lot of hype surrounding the newest RC Strasbourg Alsace recruit, hailed as the next great South American superstar.

On Thursday, the club from Alsace officially signed Kendry Paéz (18) on loan from Chelsea for the entire 2025-26 Ligue 1 campaign.

The international from Ecuador, who was named the most outstanding player at the 2022 Next Generation Tournament in Austria, has already made 18 appearances for his senior national team and scored two goals.

A World Cup hero for Ecuador at the 2006 World Cup in Germany believes the South American sensation has all the tools to be even better than some of the best players that the beautiful game has ever seen.

“He has everything to be better than Leo Messi, better than Neymar, but it depends on him and his entourage,” Carlos Tenorio told L’Équipe after the youngster officially joined Strasbourg.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a player with these features. I think he has everything to become one of the most important players in world football,” Tenorio added.

Tenorio played a big part in Ecuador’s run to the last 16 of the 06 World Cup, scoring the winning goals in their opening two group fixtures versus Poland (2-0) and Costa Rica (3-0). To date, it’s their best-ever finish at a World Cup.

Paez has been turning heads since he was just a child, joining Barcelona’s youth department, Academia Alfaro Moreno, when he was five, the Barcelona of Ecuador and not the famous one in Spain.

Eventually, he would move to Ecuadorian giants Independiente del Valle, playing in their youth team from the age of 12, before eventually getting integrated into the senior squad in 2023.

He would score a combined 12 goals in two Ecuadorian Serie A seasons. For over two years, he knew he would move to the Premier League, joining Chelsea on his 18th birthday in June.

He has also been compared to former World Cup Golden Boot winner James Rodriguez (34), who’s strong with both feet, with great dribbling and speed.

In September 2023, he became the youngest Ecuadorian to feature for his country at 16 years old, and the second-youngest South American to feature in a senior match after the late Diego Maradona.

He would net his first international goal in Ecuador’s 2-1 win over Bolivia in October 2023, thus becoming the youngest goalscorer in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying history at 16 years and 161 days.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre