When Folarin Balogun landed on a private jet at Liverpool John Lennon Airport at lunchtime on Tuesday, it seemed his move to Everton was a formality. The night before, Everton had reached an agreement with Monaco to sign the American striker in a deal worth €45m (£39m, $52m), with an additional €5m. All that was left was to iron out the final details and for Balogun to complete his medical examination. Everton would then have the striker they had longed for all summer. Everton were delighted with the opportunity to sign Balogun, a player they feared was out of reach after his impressive World Cup performances. With Balogun apparently on the way, Everton were happy to sanction Beto’s departure to Fiorentina in a permanent deal worth €18 million. the collapse of Chelsea’s deal to sign Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara. To tell this story, The Athletic spoke with several people with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the deals, who spoke anonymously to protect relationships unless otherwise noted. This is the story of the chaotic end to the transfer window involving Balogun, Camara, Everton, Chelsea and Monaco. At Everton’s Finch Farm training ground on Tuesday, there was a sense of optimism after late deals were struck to sign Balogun and Ainsley from Lyon Maitland-Niles, with Jack Grealish returning on loan from Manchester City. All three had their medicals at training camp on Tuesday. There was real excitement at the prospect of signing Balogun, who had been at the top of their wish list all summer. Everton had spoken to the players’ camp for weeks, but it was not until the final days that it became clear that an agreement could be reached. If Balogun had joined David Moyes’ team, he would have been one of the highest earners alongside Jordan Pickford, Jarrad. Branthwaite and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Monaco had planned for Balogun to leave this summer, after three years at the club and after a World Cup in which he scored three goals in four games. A senior figure at the club told The Athletic the previous month that they felt Balogun was ready for the next step in his career. Folarin Balogun was one of the stars of the World Cup (John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images) “We had already worked beforehand to replace him, and we were completely ready to do it,” Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro said in a press conference on Wednesday, via Monaco’s YouTube channel. Balogun found his best form at Monaco last season, scoring 19 goals in all competitions, including a run of 10 goals in 10 games. In his first season, he scored seven goals in Ligue 1 and also missed four penalties, while his second was hampered by a shoulder injury. As the deadline progressed, Everton felt there were some early warning signs regarding Balogun’s move. The private jet carrying Balogun from Nice was initially scheduled to depart early Tuesday morning, but was delayed and landed at lunchtime. Everton requested GPS data to better understand the player’s situation, as is common practice in this type of agreement. GPS (Global Positioning System) vests are commonly used by players in the modern game to help clubs track their key performance metrics (such as distance covered) in training sessions and games. At the time, Everton had some concerns about what they were seeing in the data. It was around 7pm on Tuesday, the final day of an already hectic transfer window, that Everton informed Monaco of a problem flagged in Balogun’s medical, which had the potential to derail the transfer. Wednesday press conference. “The explanations were not sufficient to justify or raise concerns about the player’s future, which is not the case.” Scuro said it was at that moment that Chelsea (he said they had been in contact with Monaco for 10 days about Camara) sensed an opening. Until then, Monaco’s position was that they were happy to sell Balogun, but wanted to keep Senegalese international Camara for one more season. “And then of course Chelsea saw the opportunity,” Scuro said, the London club having increased their interest after agreeing to sell Enzo Fernandez to Manchester City. “‘Okay, Monaco needs money. Balogun is struggling there. Come on. Let’s try.’ And this is the game. It’s fair to play this game. No problem. Chelsea came and called us. ‘Oh, maybe I can be here to find the solution.’ And at that moment, we had to open the door to discussion.” At around 8pm, Monaco began negotiations with Chelsea over the sale of 22-year-old Camara. Just over an hour later, the two clubs had agreed a €55m (£47.2m; £63.7m) deal. As The Athletic reported last night, Camara had agreed terms on a six-year contract with Chelsea, with the option of a further 12 months, and completed a medical. The situation also left Everton scrambling for alternatives, with Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee, who played in a youth tournament for Everton during a trial, and Aston Villa’s Tammy Abraham sounded as possibilities. Top five transfers of the 2026 summer window Tim Spiers A first offer was made to United for Zirkzee at 8pm, after Everton made initial contact at 5pm Abraham wanted to stay at Villa, while United rejected Zirzkee’s loan proposal as they felt they did not have enough time to line up a replacement. meaning Everton would pay less upfront but with more performance-based add-ons included. There were no changes to the player’s personal terms. With Balogun’s deal seemingly revived, Monaco informed Chelsea at 11pm that Camara’s deal was no longer in place, leaving the London club furious. Camara also now had his heart set on Chelsea. Monaco’s behavior is seen at Chelsea as extraordinary and deeply unprofessional. While working to finalize Balogun’s transfer, Everton and Monaco signed a deal before the 11pm deadline, allowing them to get over the line. “The Premier League has a mechanism where you can request an extra hour to finish the paperwork,” Scuro explained at the press conference. “This was done. Five minutes to close the transfer window so we can finish all the formalities between Monaco, Everton and Balogun. I signed the contract, Everton signed the contract. “At the last moment, the player decided not to sign. And basically, Balogun’s accusation is that I don’t feel good about the way the club treated me. I don’t feel well because Everton’s medical department raised questions about my future or my health. I have nothing, so I don’t feel comfortable signing a long contract here. And that’s how we end our transfer window. “It’s the first time in my career I’ve seen a final (deadline) day like this.” There was no prospect at the time of Camara’s deal being revived because Chelsea’s contract sheet for the player had not been signed by Monaco. The collapse of Balogun’s transfer also meant that Erik Lira’s planned move to Monaco from Cruz Azul also fell through, with the French club having been unable to free up a non-EU player place in their squad. Assessing Chelsea’s summer transfer window Liam Twomey The frantic end to the process ultimately did not sit well with anyone. Monaco failed to sell a key asset they needed to generate funds; Everton was left with only one veteran striker: Thierno Barry; Chelsea were left furious at Monaco’s approach, while Camara’s agent also expressed his disappointment. In an Instagram post, former Fulham striker Diomansy Kamara, who represents Camara and Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr, said African players deserved greater respect. “We need to move away from this way of thinking where an African player can sometimes be made to feel like a mere commodity: we buy him, we set his price, we negotiate his future and, all too often, his own desires seem to take second place,” he wrote. “A transfer should not simply be a question between two clubs and numbers. “Behind every contract there is a person, a career, dreams and life options. Sometimes clubs can have the last word; That is a reality of professional football. But one question remains: what about the player’s career and his own desires? The player must be listened to and respected in the decisions that determine his future.” For Everton, it marked a regrettable end to a disappointing transfer window: fan favorite Iliman Ndiaye left to join Manchester City, while an angry fan backlash prevented local talent Harrison Armstrong from being sold to Nottingham Forest. Meanwhile, his decision to post about the ‘Toffee Donut’ on his Channel Owners The Friedkin Group, who also own Roma, also had to deal with a busy deadline in Italy, with manager Gian Piero Gasperini vetoing the sale of key midfielder Manu Kone to Chelsea and Jamie Leweling’s transfer from Stuttgart falling through. Everton now plan to sign a striker in January, but until then it is up to Barry, although Tyrique George could be deployed in the middle if necessary. Attention now turns to the daunting prospect of Paris Saint-Germain leaving on Friday. At Wednesday’s press conference, a tired-looking Scuro said he did not want to “create a war” with Chelsea and Everton. According to French Football News, Camara returned to training on Wednesday, but Balogun was absent. “For Balogun, I only spoke to him on the phone,” Scuro said. “His arguments are clear. He is coming back. I think he made the decision. There’s no big reason for you to be too affected because it’s your decision. “I really respect and understand Lamine. Because the player could have been moved during the day by the conversations with the coach, by everything that a club like Chelsea can propose and promise to a player.” More days,” he said. At a press conference yesterday, Monaco coach Filipe Luis said he expected Camara to play against PSG tomorrow night. “He is 100% fit to play and he needs to play where he loves, on the pitch,” he said in quotes collected by Get French Football News. This leaves Balogun in a difficult position and in the spotlight once again. At the World Cup, he became one of the biggest talking points of the tournament when his suspension for a red card was controversially voided before the knockout match against Belgium following an intervention by US President Donald Trump. Balogun switched agents in recent weeks to Jorge Mendes, having previously been with Elite Project Group’s Eddie Bonsu. His contract with Monaco expires in the summer of 2028. He joined them from Arsenal in the summer of 2023 in a deal worth €40 million after the extensions. The door to the Premier League may be closed for now, but the markets in Turkey and Saudi Arabia remain open. But after such a saga, what will happen next is anyone’s guess.
