Liverpool reportedly told Lamine Camara and AS Monaco to wait for them, with the news breaking that a Chelsea deal to sign the 22-year-old has collapsed at the last moment.
The Reds went into the final day of the summer transfer window not planning to make any new signings and Chelsea came very close to signing Camara.
Ben Jacobs reports that Liverpool made a call this evening to Camara and Monaco to tell them, that if a deal was not possible, to wait for them until 2027. Either the January transfer window or next summer’s window.
Reporting on X, Jacobs has broken the news: “After reaching a full written club-to-club agreement with Chelsea for Lamine Camara, Monaco have gone back on their word. €55m deal for Camara is now off. Having renegotiated the Balogun deal with Everton, Monaco have now reneged on the agreement they had already reached and confirmed in writing with Chelsea. Chelsea view this as deeply unprofessional.”
BREAKING: After reaching a full written club-to-club agreement with Chelsea for Lamine Camara, Monaco have gone back on their word. €55m deal for Camara is now off.
Having renegotiated the Balogun deal with Everton, Monaco have now reneged on the agreement they had already… pic.twitter.com/qqEYx9kJRp
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) September 1, 2026
Then, speaking live on talkSPORT, Jacobs says that Liverpool were in dialogue with Monaco and Camara all day, telling them to bide their time for at least six months. They told the midfielder and his camp that if a move to Chelsea did not materialise, they would be back for him in 2027.
BREAKING NEWS!!! pic.twitter.com/cBqG6vXynl
— Anfield Sector (@AnfieldSector) September 1, 2026
Why Liverpool have waited this long is a mystery, with it fair to describe the entirety of the 2026 summer transfer window a mess. News broke this week from Romain Molina that sporting director Richard Hughes was handling transfer negotiations for both Liverpool and Al Hilal, who he is now free to leave Merseyside to work for full-time.
Liverpool had several months to arrange a deal to sign Camara and the money was there to spend on him, as evidenced by multiple bids for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh and Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr.
Now, Camara will spend the 2026/27 season at Monaco despite coming very close to making the move to Chelsea, but it’s safe to say that the player will not be happy with the way the Londoners have backed out of a deal to sign him at the 11th hour – literally. The Premier League transfer window closed at 11 pm, meaning there is no time to make any last-minute arrangements.