Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro on Lamine Camara and Flo Balogun failing to join Chelsea and Monaco respectively.
“We needed to generate money, pushed by the regulations. We had two topics in mind [selling Lamine Camara or Flo Balogun]. We made clear that our priority was to keep Lamine at the club. We were open to the transfer for Balogun.
“During the day, we had a clear agreement for Balogun to go to Everton. Balogun flew yesterday morning to go for his medical and sign a contract. Our plan worked very well in this moment…
“This was the situation until mid-afternoon. What happened is that Chelsea was always testing and trying. ‘What about Lamine? What about Lamine?’
“Around 1600 yesterday, we got a contact from Chelsea. Okay, we sold a player in this position [Enzo Fernandez]. Deal done. Is there any possibility that Monaco is open to selling Lamine? The answer was the same. No.
“Balogun was in Liverpool undergoing his medical. Everything was going pretty well. Around 1900, we were contacted by Everton raising questions about Balogun’s medical which, for our medical staff, as well as for the player’s personal medical staff, made no sense at all.
“And then, of course, Chelsea saw the opportunity. ‘OK, Monaco needs money’ they thought. ‘Balogun is struggling [to get done]. Let’s go. Let’s try.’ And this is the game. It’s fair to play this game. There is no problem.
“It was almost 2000 and we started negotiations with Chelsea. I informed the player [Camara] directly myself. I called him. We had discussions about the conditions for Lamine to go to Chelsea. At the same time, the medical discussions were ongoing with Balogun.
“And what happened was that around 2200, 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 [with Everton]. There is no deal on [with Chelsea].’ It’s also fair to do this. It’s also part of the game.
“Because of this we become the bad guys in the room. People say ‘Monaco is not fair, Monaco is not right.’ It’s too much.
“Then with Balogun, we had five minutes to spare [to finalise the deal]. I signed the contract. Everton signed the contract. At the last moment, the player decided not to sign.
“Balogun’s allegation is, ‘I’m not feeling well because of the way the club treated me. I’m not feeling well because Everton’s medical department raised doubts about my future or my health. I have nothing [no medical issues], so I’m not comfortable signing a long contract here’. And that’s how we finished our transfer window.”
Everton sources say Monaco were slack in providing appropriate medical records to expedite the deal and Balogun was late to arrive to formalise the move.
