Folarin Balogun pulled the plug on his on again, off again transfer to Everton because he did not feel comfortable signing for a club who had questioned his medical status, Monaco sporting director Thiago Scuro claimed on Wednesday.
Even though Everton submitted a dealsheet document to the Premier League, a mechanism designed to give clubs an extra two-hour slot to finalize transfers that press up against the transfer window’s deadline, Balogun left the club’s Finch Farm training ground, opting not to put pen to paper. Everton initially agreed to pay an initial $52.3m (£38.58m; €45m) plus a prior sell-on fee and $5.8m (£4.3m; €5m) in add-ons; but then, after Tuesday’s medical, attempts to re-negotiate the deal ended with Balogun deciding against the move.
Four hours before the deadline, Everton’s medical staff raised concerns that Scuro and the player's own medical team strongly rejected. 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. "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." 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.'
Everton sources have claimed the 25-year-old arrived later than scheduled from France and that Monaco were slow in sharing the appropriate medical records, giving them less time to resolve the problem. Everton had renegotiated the structure of the fee with Monaco after discovering an issue with the USA international’s medical and failing in attempts to sign Joshua Zirkzee or Tammy Abraham on loan. 12:15am: The Balogun deal falls through when the player has a change of heart in light of Everton's doubts over his fitness and pursuit of other strikers.
However with both clubs having signed off on the move, the player himself pulled out of the transfer, leaving Everton short the replacement striker they needed and Monaco short of the cash injection they require.
Reporting: The Athletic, FourFourTwo, World Soccer Talk, CBS Sports, talkSPORT, Sport Witness, The Guardian, Daily Mail, The Independent.