Folarin Balogun has been left out of Monaco's squad for the Conference League after the forward chose not to join Everton at the eleventh hour of transfer deadline day.
Balogun had been set to sign for Everton, but issues arose with his medical, at which point Monaco agreed to sell midfielder Lamine Camara to Chelsea. However, the Toffees then decided to proceed with the Balogun deal after renegotiating terms, meaning the Principality side pulled the plug on Camara's move to Stamford Bridge as they did not want to lose both players.
Then, at the last moment, Balogun had a change of heart, meaning that he and Camara would both stay at the Ligue 1 club, though Chelsea were left furious by what had gone on.
Balogun's future is now uncertain. He could still leave the club for a team whose transfer window is still open, and the doubt over his position deepened when he was left out of Monaco's 25-man squad for the Conference League league phase.
As a result of the drama, Monaco chief Thiago Scuro held a press conference on Wednesday in which he launched a staunch defence of his club and insisted they were not "the bad guys" in the scenario.
How the deal fell apart
Scuro explained how Monaco were happy to sell Balogun but were desperate to keep Camara, a position that had already been communicated to the midfielder earlier on deadline day after he had rejected several approaches for him over the summer.
"During the day, we had a clear agreement for Balogun to go to Everton. Balogun flew yesterday morning to go for medicals and sign a contract," Scuro said.
"Balogun, besides the salary, was also an important source of income for the club. And then, Lamine would stay. This was what we had until mid-afternoon. What happened is that Chelsea were always testing and trying. What about Lamine? What about Lamine? I've been talking to them for the last 10 days."
"Around 4pm yesterday, we got a contact from Chelsea. 'Okay, we sold a midfielder (Enzo Fernandez). Deal done. Is there any possibility that Monaco are open to selling Lamine?' The answer was the same. No, it's not. At this moment, at 4pm, Balogun was in Liverpool undergoing his medical. Everything was going pretty well."
Scuro added that at around 7pm, Everton then got in touch about issues with Balogun's medical, which he said "made no sense at all" to either Monaco's medical staff or the player's own personal medical staff.
Although discussions continued with Everton over Balogun's physical health, Scuro explained that Chelsea then went again for Camara and a deal was discussed.
"And what happened was that around 10pm, maybe a bit earlier, Everton realised that, OK, there is no problem. We are ready to do it. Let's sign the contract," he said.
"As soon as we got the information, we came back to Chelsea and thought, 'OK, we have our deal there. There is no deal on it (Camara).' Because it's also fair to do this. It's also part of the game."
"There is no reason that these kinds of dynamic discussions 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, that this kind of interaction sees us become the bad guys in the room. Putting that on Monaco is not fair. So this is the story. We informed, again, everyone that there was no deal with Chelsea. We progressed with Balogun."
Balogun's change of heart
However, just as the deal was about to be completed, Balogun made the dramatic decision not to proceed with the move, having been left upset by Everton's initial concerns over his medical.
"Balogun's allegation is that 'I'm not feeling good because of the way the club treated me. I'm not feeling good because Everton's medical department raised doubts about my future or my health. I have nothing (no health problem), so I'm not comfortable signing a long contract here,'" Scuro said.
"And 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 his decision."
Monaco and the Conference League
Monaco finished last season competing in Ligue 1, France's top division, and have qualified for this season's UEFA Conference League, the third tier of European club competition below the Champions League and Europa League. Everton and Chelsea both play in the Premier League, England's top flight, whose transfer window closed on deadline day.
What happens next
Scuro added that Balogun may still depart in the next few days to a league where the transfer window remains open, while he believes Camara could still move on to "better things" in the future. He also said he sympathised with both players over their respective sagas.
