Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro has provided an account of the dramatic final day of the transfer window, when Premier League moves for Folarin Balogun and Lamine Camara both broke down.
Balogun was expected to join Everton, but concerns emerged during his medical. With Monaco then agreeing to sell Camara to Chelsea, the situation quickly became more complicated.
Everton eventually revived Balogun’s transfer after renegotiating the terms. Monaco, unwilling to lose both players on the same day, responded by cancelling Camara’s proposed move to Stamford Bridge.
Balogun then changed his mind at the eleventh hour, leaving both players at the Ligue 1 club. Chelsea were left furious by the events that unfolded.
Scuro addressed the extraordinary sequence of events at a press conference on Wednesday, mounting a firm defence of Monaco and insisting that the club was not “the bad guy” in the episode.
The Monaco chief said the club had been willing to sell Balogun but was determined to retain Camara. He added that the midfielder had been informed of that stance earlier on deadline day, after Monaco rejected several approaches for him during the summer.
Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro has explained the chaotic deadline day that saw Premier League transfers for Folarin Balogun and Lamine Camara collapse
Folarin Balogun was due to join Everton before withdrawing from the move at the last moment
“During the day, we had a clear agreement for Balogun to go to Everton. Balogun flew yesterday morning to undergo his medical and sign a contract,” Scuro said.
“Balogun, besides the salary, was also an important source of income for the club. And then Lamine would stay.”
“That was the situation until mid-afternoon. Chelsea had always been testing the possibility and asking: ‘What about Lamine? What about Lamine?’ I had been speaking to them for the previous 10 days.”
“Around 4pm yesterday, Chelsea contacted us. They said: ‘We sold a midfielder, Enzo Fernandez. The deal is done. Is there any possibility Monaco would be open to selling Lamine?’ The answer remained the same: no. At that point, Balogun was in Liverpool undergoing his medical, and everything was progressing well.”
Scuro added that at around 7PM, Everton then got in touch about issues with Balogun’s medical, ‘which for our medical staff, as well as the player’s personal medical staff, made no sense at all’.
Although discussions continued with Everton over Balogun’s physical health, Scuro explained that Chelsea then went again for Camara and a deal was discussed.
He added: ‘And what happened was that around 10PM, maybe a bit earlier, Everton realised that, OK, there is no problem. We are ready to do it. Let’s sign the contract.
‘As soon as we got the information, we came back to Chelsea and thought, “OK, we have our deal there. There is no deal on it (Camara)”. Because it’s also fair to do this. It’s also part of the game.
‘There is no reason that these kinds of dynamic discussions on the last day of the transfer window, which all of us decided to be on the last day, trying to find solutions, with the clock ticking, that this kind of interaction (sees us) become the bad guys in the room.
‘Putting that on Monaco is not fair. So this is the story. We informed, again, everyone that there was no deal with Chelsea. We progressed (with Balogun).’
However, just as the deal was about to be completed, Balogun made the dramatic decision to not proceed with the move having been left upset by Everton’s initial concerns surrounding his medical.
Chelsea were left furious after their move for Lamine Camara fell through at the last moment
Scuro said: ‘Balogun’s allegation is that “I’m not feeling good because of the way the club treated me. I’m not feeling good because Everton’s medical department raised doubts about my future or my health. I have nothing (no health problem), so I’m not comfortable signing a long contract here.”
‘And the reality is that when Balo mentioned to us this feeling that he was not comfortable, he didn’t want to sign. We didn’t see ourselves in a position to push him. We had to respect his decision.’
Scuro added that Balogun may still depart in the next few days to a league where the transfer window remains open, while he believes Camara could still move onto ‘better things’ in the future.
He also insisted he sympathised with both players over their respective sagas.
