AS Monaco sporting director Thiago Scuro has revealed the extraordinary sequence of events behind Folarin Balogun’s deadline day transfer collapse to Everton.
Speaking to Get French Football News (GFFN), Scuro detailed how medical doubts raised by the Premier League club ultimately provoked the striker to reject the move at the final minute.
Scuro explained that Monaco had established a clear financial strategy entering deadline day, combining player sales with wage relief.
'I don't want to sign after the way they treated me'
"During the day, we had a clear agreement for Balogun to go to Everton," Scuro said. "Balogun flew yesterday morning to go for medicals and sign a contract.
"Balogun, besides the salary, was also an important source of income for the club, which would help us also to balance the season."
Folarin Balogun medical dispute
While Monaco held firm against Chelsea's late-in-the-window advances for Lamine Camara, Balogun arrived in Liverpool for tests. Four hours before the deadline, Everton’s medical staff raised concerns that Scuro and the player's own medical team strongly rejected.
"At 4pm, Balogun was in Liverpool undergoing his medical. Everything was going pretty well. Around 7pm, 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.
"The explanations were not enough to justify or to bring concerns regarding the future of the player, which there aren’t. This discussion started between medical departments from here and there. It took Everton around two-to-three hours to go deep into the assessment and check with other doctors. This is a normal situation when the doctor of the club raises concerns. It’s quite normal that clubs will look for other specialists, share the images and discuss the case. This was ongoing."
Reports that Balogun had failed his medical surfaced in the media while consultations continued.
"I would say around half an hour after we were contacted. It was already in the media that Balogun has failed his medical.
"What happened was that around 10pm (9pm BST), 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."
"Five minutes to close the transfer window there, I signed the contract, Everton signed the contract. At the last moment, the player decided not to sign. 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 [wrong with me], so I’m not comfortable signing a long contract here.' And that’s the way we finish our transfer window.
"On Everton, I was not there. We have to respect [Balogun's] decision. We tried to do the work on the club side. We found solutions.
"The reality is that when 'Balo' mentioned to us this feeling that he was not comfortable, he didn’t want to sign, we didn’t see ourselves in a position to push him. We had to respect."