Chelsea have seen a late move for Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara collapse.
The Blues had sanctioned the exit of Enzo Fernandez to Manchester City for £125m during the late afternoon of Tuesday, and there was some pessimism coming from Blues sources that they would be able to find a replacement in time for the 11pm UK deadline.
Work continued behind the scenes however, and a breakthrough was found for midfield target Lamine Camara, agreeing a £47m fee with AS Monaco around 9pm UK time.
Chelsea owner Behdad Eghbali unlocked the negotiations after Everton’s move for striker Florian Balogun fell through.
Monaco only wanted to sell one of Balogun or Camara, so at that stage with Balogun staying, Camara to Chelsea then became possible.
With Everton in need of a striker, they turned to Manchester United forward Joshua Zirkzee. A deal was thought to be advancing, but United then suddenly blocked the move.
Everton then quickly turned back to try and resurrect a deal with Monaco for Balogun. The two sides agreed on a lower fee than they initially had negotiated, due to the medical complications.
There was a nervous wait for fans to see if Monaco would accept to sell both players. To no surprise however, Monaco decided that Chelsea would not be signing Camara and pulled the plug on the deal, going forward with the sale of Balogun instead… again.
Chelsea were understood to be furious and regard Monaco as unprofessional. All the paperwork was not complete, so Monaco could still legally pull out.
It was looking like that was that, but incredibly, just before midnight in the UK, the Balogun to Everton move collapsed yet again, with the striker having a change in heart.
With just over an hour left until the end of the deal sheet window (clubs get an extra two hours to complete deals from 11pm - 1am if all sides submit a deal sheet), many speculated online whether or not there was a deal sheet in initially for the Camara deal that had fallen through, giving a potential chance to once again go back and complete the deal after all.
However, sources told Striver.Football that Monaco had refused to sign a deal sheet, which has to be submitted before 11pm Uk, meaning that there was no chance to resurrect the deal.
The relationship between Chelsea and Monaco is understood to be very bad after tonight’s proceedings.
