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During the days of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United were always at the forefront for attracting young talents from around the world and then blooding them into superstars.
Cristiano Ronaldo was the perfect example while there were quite a few more as well. But since his retirement, United fell by the wayside in that metric as well just like most other aspects.
Things have improved slowly but surely with talents like Alejandro Garnacho, Amad Diallo and Hannibal Mejbri all tipped to become stars of the future.
United have not attracted world’s top young talents recently
But it seems the Red Devils have been beaten to the signing of Ecuadorian starlet Kendry Paez with Independiente del Valle sporting director Santiago Morales confirming Chelsea’s victory over the Reds.
“Now comes the legal issue. We can’t sign a contract because of Kendry’s age. The panorama has been clarifying in a better way, today I could say that Kendry, after two years, will go to Chelsea”.
”We received some offers for him, Borussia Dortmund, United and well, Chelsea have been the team that showed the most interest. Officials from the team and the doctor came to carry out some tests,” the official told El Canal Del Fútbol (via ESPN).
Paez only recently turned 16 and according to Premier League rules, he can only move to England when he turns 18 which is in 2025.
The youngster has been impressing for his club, having already broken through to the first-team at such a tender age and even going on to play in the Libertadores.
He has made six appearances with five coming from the start and has managed one goal. He is versatile and can play on both wings but is most effective as the attacking midfielder.
Kendry Paez chose Chelsea over United
United had missed out on the signing of Moises Caicedo from the same club back during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer‘s reign and Brighton sealed the deal in the end.
Chelsea have already adopted the same approach and signed Andrey Santos from Brazilian side Vasco da Gama in January.
Real Madrid have become masters at this type of operation with deals for Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo all happening in the recent past and Brazil’s next wonderkid Endrick soon to join that illustrious list.
United need to be more aggressive in this aspect and improve their stock in terms of attracting top young talent around the world and ensure a smooth pathway to the first team.
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