Chelsea have been left furious after Monaco pulled out of their agreement to sell Lamine Camara despite a full written club-to-club deal already being in place.
The Blues appeared to have finally won their deadline-day battle for the Senegal international after agreeing a €55million (£47m) deal with Monaco.
Camara had been cleared to undergo his medical and Chelsea were working through the final formalities.
But in an extraordinary late twist, Monaco have withdrawn from the transfer.
🚨 BREAKING: Chelsea had reached a FULL written club-to-club agreement with Monaco for Lamine Camara before Monaco WITHDREW from the deal.
The U-turn came after Monaco renegotiated Folarin Balogun’s move to Everton.
Chelsea are said to be absolutely FURIOUS and regard Monaco’s… pic.twitter.com/UaaLUXnvPp
— ChelseaReport (@chelsreport_) September 1, 2026
Monaco pull out of Lamine Camara deal
Sky Sports reports that Monaco reneged on their agreement with Chelsea shortly after the 11pm transfer deadline.
Crucially, this was no longer simply a case of negotiations failing to produce an agreement.
Sky says there was a full written club-to-club agreement for Camara to move to Stamford Bridge for £47m and sign a six-year contract, subject to his medical.
Chelsea were then informed in writing that Monaco were withdrawing from the transfer.
The Blues are said to regard Monaco’s behaviour as extraordinary and deeply unprofessional.
The reversal came after Monaco successfully renegotiated Folarin Balogun‘s proposed transfer to Everton.
With the French club now proceeding with that sale, they decided they no longer wanted to allow Camara to leave.
It brings an astonishing end to a transfer which changed direction repeatedly throughout deadline day.
Chelsea initially had a €45m bid rejected before seeing an improved €50m proposal turned down as their attempts to replace Enzo Fernandez appeared to unravel.
A late breakthrough then produced the €55m agreement.
Now the deal is off entirely.
Chelsea honour £125m Enzo Fernandez agreement
The timing makes the collapse even more remarkable.
Chelsea had already agreed to sell Enzo Fernandez to Manchester City for £125m and were bringing Camara in as a major midfield addition following the Argentine’s departure.
Reports subsequently claimed Chelsea learned about Monaco’s U-turn while the Fernandez transfer was still being completed.
Absolute Chelsea reports that the Blues had the opportunity to block Fernandez’s move after discovering the Camara deal had collapsed.
Chelsea instead chose to honour the agreement they had already made with Manchester City and Fernandez.
Fernandez’s £125m transfer therefore went ahead while Chelsea were left without the midfielder they believed they had secured to strengthen Xabi Alonso‘s squad.
That leaves the Blues facing the consequences of one of the most extraordinary deadline-day reversals of the window.
Chelsea had negotiated the fee, reached a written agreement and moved Camara through the final stages of the transfer.
Monaco then pulled the plug.
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