Monaco chief drops stunning ‘allegation’ over why £40m Folarin Balogun transfer to Everton really collapsed
Folarin Balogun decided to abort his £40m transfer to Everton after the transfer window had slammed shut owing to the way he was made to feel by the Toffees’ medical department, Monaco’s chief executive has revealed, while also sending a message to Blues about “not wanting to create a war”.
The Toffees had submitted a deal sheet to the Premier League shortly before the 11pm deadline, a process that should have given them an additional two hours to finalise his transfer and get it over the line.
With an agreement in place for personal terms and for a £40m (€46.5m, $54m) fee with Monaco struck, Everton were left ‘shocked and stunned’ and with nowhere to turn when the striker suddenly had a change of heart and decided to abandon the proposed transfer to the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
With Everton having also seen late moves for Joshua Zirkzee and Tammy Abraham rejected, coupled with Beto’s departure back to Italy with Fiorentina, David Moyes has been left with just one senior striker option in his squad: the often frustrating, but clearly talented Thierno Barry.
Anger has since spilt out from Evertonians over the transfer collapse, with plenty of finger-pointing in the wake of that Balogun miss.
Now, though, Monaco’s chief executive, Thiago Scuro, has explained what really went down that night.
“The Premier League has a mechanism where you can request one extra hour to finish the paperwork,” he said.
“This was done five minutes to the close of the transfer window there. I signed the contract, Everton signed the contract. At the last moment, the player decided not to sign.
“And basically, the allegation of Balogun is that: ‘I’m not feeling well by the way the club treated me. I’m not feeling well by the way the medical department of Everton brought doubts about my future or my health.
“I have nothing [wrong with me], so I’m not comfortable signing a long contract here.’ And that’s the way we finished our transfer window.”
Monaco chief offers olive branch to Everton and Chelsea
The collapse of that deal also had implications for Chelsea, who also missed out on Lamine Camara after the Ligue 1 side changed their mind over the Senegalese midfielder’s sale, likely as a result of the agreement to sell Balogun, but also in light of Liverpool’s plans to pay even more for the player in the 2027 transfer windows.
Either way, Scuro insists he does not want to “create a war” with either Everton or Chelsea over the double transfer failure.
He said: “At four o’clock Balo was in Liverpool making his medicals. Everything was going pretty well.
“Around 7pm we were contacted by Everton, raising questions on the medicals of Balo, which for our medical staff, [and] for the personal medical staff of the player, made totally no sense. The explanations were not enough to justify or bring concerns about the future of the player. Which there isn’t.
“This discussion started between the medical departments here and there.
“It took Everton around two, three hours to go deep on the assessment, check with other doctors; this is a normal situation when the doctor of the club raises concerns … meanwhile, as everything on the last days, this was in the press quite quickly.
“I would say around half an hour after we were contacted, it was already in the media that Balogun is failing the medicals. And then, of course, Chelsea saw the opportunity.”
Scuro continued: “Around 10pm, in our time here, 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, yes, we did come back to Chelsea and told [them]: ‘OK, we have our deal there. There is no deal on Lamine.’ Because it’s also fair to do this. It’s also part of the game.
“There is no reason that this kind of discussions or dynamic 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 on our neck, [makes Monaco] the bad guys in the room; that Monaco is not fair, Monaco is not right.
“Everybody is very fair and nice in the football industry, just Monaco is not. Too much!”
Despite that sale, Monaco still have financial pressures and will look to revisit a future sale for either player next year.
On Camara’s future, Scuro added: “I’m very confident that soon he will have even better options and offers than the one he had yesterday.”
Meanwhile, it can also be revealed that Everton rejected an approach from Chelsea late on deadline day for a star they rate in the £65m bracket.
