Folarin Balogun's Chaotic Deadline Day at Everton

When Folarin Balogun stepped off a private jet at Liverpool John Lennon Airport on Tuesday lunchtime, it looked like the end of a long pursuit and the start of Everton’s new era up front. The fee with Monaco was agreed: €45million (£39m, $52m) plus €5m in add-ons. The medical, the paperwork, the photos — that was supposed to be the easy bit.

By the time the window slammed shut, Everton had no striker, Monaco had no money, Chelsea had no Lamine Camara, and Balogun had detonated one of the most chaotic deadline days in recent memory.

Everton’s big bet

Finch Farm was buzzing on Tuesday morning. Three medicals in one day: Balogun, Ainsley Maitland-Niles from Lyon, and Jack Grealish returning on loan from Manchester City. After a flat summer, this felt like a late surge.

Balogun was the jewel. Everton had chased him all window, assuming at times that his World Cup form — three goals in four games for the United States — had priced them out. He had hit 19 goals in all competitions for Monaco last season, including a blistering run of 10 in 10. At 23, he was the type of forward Everton rarely get near.

Talks with his camp had been going on for weeks. Only in the final days did Monaco’s stance soften enough to make a deal realistic. If he signed, Balogun would walk straight in among the club’s top earners alongside Jordan Pickford, Jarrad Branthwaite and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

Monaco were ready. They had planned for his departure after three years at the club and a World Cup that had pushed his profile up another level. “We had already worked in advance to replace him, and we were fully ready to do this,” Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro said on Wednesday.

Everton were so confident they sanctioned Beto’s sale to Fiorentina in a permanent €18m deal. The risk was obvious. They believed the reward would be worth it.

Early warning signs

The first hint that this might not be straightforward came before Balogun even touched down. His private jet from Nice was supposed to leave early on Tuesday morning. It didn’t. The flight was pushed back and eventually landed around lunchtime.

Everton asked for GPS data, a standard step in modern transfers to get a clearer picture of a player’s physical condition. What they saw raised internal concern. Enough to flag it. Not enough to walk away. Not yet.

By around 7pm, with the window already stretched to breaking point, Everton called Monaco. There was an issue in Balogun’s medical, they said. A potential problem that could derail the transfer.

Scuro was stunned. “Around 7pm we were contacted by Everton, raising questions on the medical of Balogun, which for our medical staff, and for the personal medical staff of the player, made totally no sense,” he said. “The explanations were not enough to justify or bring concerns of the future of the player, which there is not.”

That moment changed everything — not just for Everton and Monaco, but for Chelsea and Lamine Camara too.

Chelsea smell blood

Monaco had made one thing clear in the days leading up to deadline day: they were prepared to sell Balogun, but they wanted to keep Camara, their 22-year-old Senegal international midfielder, for at least another season.

Chelsea had been circling Camara for around 10 days. Talks had been exploratory rather than decisive. Then Everton’s doubts about Balogun opened a door.

“And then of course, Chelsea saw the opportunity,” Scuro said. With Enzo Fernandez heading to Manchester City, the London club needed a midfielder. “‘OK, Monaco needs money. Balogun is struggling there. Let’s go. Let’s try.’ And this is the game. It’s fair to play this game. There is no problem. Chelsea came and called us. ‘Oh, maybe I can be here for the solution’. And at that moment, we had to open the door for the discussion.”

Around 8pm, Monaco and Chelsea began formal negotiations for Camara. By just after 9pm, the two clubs had agreed a deal worth €55m (£47.2m; $63.7m).

Camara agreed a six-year contract with an option for a seventh. He completed a medical. For Chelsea, it looked done. For Camara, it felt like a life-changing move.

Everton scramble, options vanish

While Monaco were pivoting to Chelsea, Everton were suddenly exposed. Beto had gone. Balogun was wobbling. The club needed a striker and had hours to find one.

They turned to old names and old contacts. Joshua Zirkzee at Manchester United — a player who once played in a youth tournament for Everton during a trial — and Tammy Abraham at Aston Villa were quickly sounded out.

Everton made initial contact with United about Zirkzee at 5pm and followed up with a first offer at 8pm. United rejected the loan proposal. They felt they didn’t have time to find a replacement.

Abraham, meanwhile, wanted to stay at Villa. Another door shut.

The clock kept ticking. The options kept shrinking.

The twist no one saw coming

Just as it seemed Everton would have to walk away from Balogun, the deal flickered back into life.

The medical concerns did not disappear, but the structure of the transfer changed. Monaco and Everton reworked the terms: less money up front from Everton, more performance-related add-ons. Balogun’s personal terms stayed exactly the same.

On that basis, both clubs pushed again. With Balogun apparently back on board, Monaco called Chelsea at 11pm and pulled the plug on Camara’s transfer. The London club were furious. Camara, who had already agreed terms and passed a medical, now believed he was heading to Stamford Bridge. Suddenly, he wasn’t.

Chelsea viewed Monaco’s U-turn as extraordinary and deeply unprofessional. Inside the Monaco camp, the logic was simple: if Balogun goes, Camara stays. If Balogun stays, Camara can go. With the striker’s deal seemingly back on, Camara was sacrificed. Then the ground shifted again.

Everton and Monaco lodged a dealsheet before the 11pm deadline, invoking the Premier League mechanism that grants an extra hour to complete paperwork. “This was done. Five minutes to close the transfer window for us to finish all the paperwork between Monaco and Everton and Balogun,” Scuro explained. “I signed the contract, Everton signed the contract.”

All that remained was Balogun’s signature.

It never came.

“At the last moment, the player decided not to sign,” Scuro said. “And basically, Balogun’s allegation is that 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, so I’m not comfortable to sign a long contract here. And that’s the way we finish our transfer window.

“It’s the first time in my career that I saw a last day like this.”

With that decision, the entire chain collapsed. Balogun stayed at Monaco. Camara stayed at Monaco. Chelsea were left empty-handed. Everton were left with nothing.

Collateral damage everywhere

Because Monaco could not complete the Balogun sale, they also had to abandon a move for Cruz Azul midfielder Erik Lira, who would have taken up a non-EU squad spot. One collapsed deal triggered another.

The fallout was brutal. Monaco failed to cash in on a key asset they had planned to sell. Everton ended the window with just one senior striker, Thierno Barry, and a January promise to try again. Chelsea were left seething, with Camara’s camp equally dismayed.

Diomansy Kamara, the former Fulham forward who represents Camara and Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr, took to Instagram to voice his anger, focusing on how African players are treated in the market.

“We need to move away from this way of thinking in which an African player can sometimes be made to feel like a mere commodity: we buy him, set his price, negotiate his future, and too often, his own wishes seem to come second,” he wrote. “A transfer should not be merely a matter between two clubs and numbers.

“Behind every contract, there is a person, a career, dreams, and life choices. Clubs may sometimes have the final say — that is a reality of professional football. But one question remains: what about the player’s career and his own wishes? The player must be heard and respected in the decisions that determine his future.”

Everton’s own window unravelled in public. Fan favourite Iliman Ndiaye left for Manchester City. A proposed sale of homegrown Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest collapsed under the weight of supporter fury. As the deadline approached and the striker search imploded, the club’s official X account posted about a “Toffee Doughnut” at 10.10pm. The reaction from fans was scathing.

Behind the scenes, The Friedkin Group — who also own Roma — were juggling drama in Italy too. Roma head coach Gian Piero Gasperini vetoed the sale of key midfielder Manu Kone to Chelsea, while Jamie Leweling’s move from Stuttgart also fell apart late on.

Picking up the pieces

Everton will now try again in January. Until then, they are heavily reliant on Barry, with Tyrique George a possible option through the middle if needed. Brennan Johnson and Tyler Dibling are viewed as other attacking solutions, but none of them are the proven goalscorer the club spent the summer chasing.

Monaco, for their part, must now head to Paris to face PSG on Friday with a squad still digesting the chaos. Scuro, visibly weary at Wednesday’s press conference, insisted he did not want to “create a war” with Chelsea or Everton. According to French Football News, Camara returned to training on Wednesday. Balogun did not.

“For Balogun, I only spoke to him by phone,” Scuro said. “His arguments are clear. He’s coming back. I think he took the decision. There is not a big reason for him to be affected too much because it’s his decision.

“On Lamine, I really respect and understand. Because the player might have got excited during the day by conversations with the coach, by everything that a club like Chelsea can propose and promise to a player.”

Scuro also took aim at the French window closing at 8pm, earlier than in England. “Maybe we should start discussing following other countries that stay one day more, two days more,” he said. Monaco, locked out of late replacements, had to live with the consequences.

Monaco coach Filipe Luis expects Camara to play against PSG. “He is 100% able to play, and he needs to play. His head needs to be where he loves, on the pitch,” he said.

Balogun back in the spotlight

All of which leaves Balogun at the centre of a storm again. At the World Cup, he became a lightning rod when his red-card suspension was controversially overturned before the knockout tie against Belgium after an intervention from U.S. President Donald Trump. Now, his refusal to sign for Everton has reshaped three clubs’ plans in a single night.

He has recently switched agents, leaving Eddie Bonsu’s Elite Project Group for Jorge Mendes. His Monaco contract runs until summer 2028, having joined from Arsenal in 2023 for €40m including add-ons. Arsenal hold a 17.5 per cent sell-on clause, so his next move still matters in north London too.

For now, the Premier League door is shut. Markets in Turkey and Saudi Arabia remain open, and Monaco know those leagues can move quickly and decisively if they sense an opportunity.

But after a deadline day like this — one jet, one medical, one unsigned contract — who dares predict where Folarin Balogun goes next?