Xabi Alonso rules out Kendry Paez from Chelsea plans with loan exit still being sought

Xabi Alonso has publicly ruled Kendry Paez out of his Chelsea first-team plans, confirming the 18-year-old Ecuadorian winger will not feature for the club before the January transfer window and that a loan exit remains the preferred solution.

Paez returned to Chelsea’s Cobham training base last month after his loan spell at River Plate was cut short, but the club failed to find him a new club before the English transfer deadline closed. He has not played a single minute for Chelsea since completing his £17.3 million move from Independiente del Valle last summer — a transfer agreed when he was 16, with the understanding he would not relocate to England until he turned 18.

Asked directly on Tuesday whether Paez could feature before January, Alonso was unequivocal. “No, no. He is not part of the plans,” the Chelsea head coach said. “At the moment, he is not part of the first-team squad.”

Alonso instead indicated that the club’s focus is on developing Paez’s standards away from the first-team environment. While the closure of the English window prevents any domestic loan, options abroad remain open. Leagues in Mexico, Brazil and Greece have been identified as potential destinations, according to The Athletic.

The competition for wide positions at Stamford Bridge makes Paez’s path to minutes particularly narrow. Alonso has quickly embedded a 3-4-3 system that places specific demands on his wide players, and the depth available to him is considerable. In Sunday’s defeat at Arsenal — Alonso’s first loss since taking charge — Jorrel Hato and Pedro Neto operated as wing-backs, with Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer supporting the centre forward. Estevao came off the bench, while Jamie Gittens and summer signing Geovany Quenda were unused substitutes.

Paez had previously spent the first half of last season on loan at Strasbourg, Chelsea’s sister club in France, but that stint did little to accelerate his path into Alonso’s plans. With the manager now openly distancing the teenager from the squad, a second loan move in January appears the most likely outcome.