Everton left ‘shocked’ and ‘stunned’ as £40m Folarin Balogun transfer collapse is explained

Everton were left “shocked” and “disappointed” by Folarin Balogun’s decision to walk away from his move to the club despite the transfer appearing to be completed, sources have told TEAMtalk.

The Monaco striker was at Everton’s Finch Farm training base and was expected to put pen to paper on a deal worth around £40million (€46.5m, $54m), but instead opted not to sign and subsequently left the club’s training ground.

Sources understand Everton believed they had done enough to complete the signing and had put a deal sheet in place to allow additional time for the transfer to be finalised after the 11pm deadline.

Sources have told TEAMtalk that there was genuine disbelief inside Everton when Balogun decided against completing the move, with the club having spent much of Deadline Day working through issues with Monaco and the player.

There had been a back-and-forth between the clubs over Balogun’s medical, but those concerns were resolved, and the transfer was renegotiated at around £40million.

At that point, the deal was very much on track, and everything was then put in place for the 25-year-old to complete the move to Merseyside.

However, when Balogun was expected to sign his contract, he instead chose not to proceed and left Finch Farm.

Everton sources have described the development to TEAMtalk as both “shocking” and “disappointing”, particularly given how close the deal had come to completion.

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Monaco believed Balogun was leaving and that played a major part in their decision to accept the circumstances around Camara’s proposed move to Chelsea.

TEAMtalk understands Monaco had been working on the basis that Balogun’s departure was going ahead before the striker changed his mind.

Earlier in the day, when the Balogun deal appeared to be in serious doubt, Everton had explored an alternative and made an offer for Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee.

That proposal was rejected, but Everton managed to revive the Balogun negotiations and eventually believed they had reached a position where the transfer would be completed.

Instead, Balogun has returned to the Principality, leaving Everton without the striker they believed they had secured.

The timing is particularly problematic for the Toffees because they had already agreed to sell Beto to Fiorentina earlier in the day, with Balogun identified as his replacement.

Everton did manage to complete the signing of Jack Grealish from Manchester City, with Iliman Ndiaye moving to the Etihad in the opposite direction.

But despite completing that major piece of business, the collapse of the Balogun transfer means Everton have been left with a significant gap in their striker options after believing they had finally solved the position.