Monaco come out fighting: Transfer chief rejects they are ‘the bad guys’ amid Chelsea fury over collapsed Lamine Camara deal – and claims Folarin Balogun walked away from Everton over how they treated him
Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro has attempted to shed light on their chaotic final day of the transfer window that saw Premier League moves for Folarin Balogun and Lamine Camara collapse.
Balogun had been set to sign for Everton, but issues arose with his medical, at which point Monaco agreed to sell Camara to Chelsea.
However, The Toffees then decided to proceed with the deal after renegotiating terms, meaning the Principality side pulled the plug on Camara’s move to Stamford Bridge as they didn’t want to lose both players.
Then, at the last moment, Balogun had a change of heart, meaning that he and Camara will stay at the Ligue 1 club, yet Chelsea were left furious by what had gone on.
As a result of the drama, Monaco chief Scuro held a press conference on Wednesday where he launched a staunch defence of his club and insisted that they were not ‘the bad guys’ in the scenario.
Scuro explained how Monaco were happy to sell Balogun but were desperate to keep Camara, a position that had been communicated to the midfielder earlier on deadline day having rejected several approaches for him over the summer.
Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro has shed light on their chaotic deadline day that saw Premier League moves for both Folarin Balogun and Lamine Camara fall through
Balogun had been set to sign for Everton but he pulled out of the move at the last moment
He said: ‘During the day, we had a clear agreement for Balogun to go to Everton. Balogun flew yesterday morning to go for medicals and sign a contract.
‘Balogun, besides the salary, was also an important source of income for the club. And then, Lamine would stay.
‘This was what we had until mid-afternoon. What happened is that Chelsea were always testing and trying. What about Lamine? What about Lamine? I’ve been talking to them for the last 10 days.
‘Around 4PM yesterday, we got a contact from Chelsea. “Okay, we sold a midfielder (Enzo Fernandez). Deal done. Is there any possibility that Monaco are open to selling Lamine?” The answer was the same. No, it’s not. At this moment, at 4PM Balogun was in Liverpool undergoing his medical. Everything was going pretty 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.