When a manager says that “no player is more important than the club”, it is usually because said player is agitating for a move. Filipe Luís was referring to Folarin Balogun, who did quite the opposite on transfer deadline day, opting to stay at Monaco rather than joining Everton, despite an agreement between the clubs. You’d think that retaining your top scorer from last season would be reason for celebration, but the fact it is not once again exposes the French football paradox.
Like plenty of other clubs in Ligue 1, Monaco are torn between sporting and financial prerogatives. They ended up prioritising the former on transfer deadline day, albeit unwillingly, and even in a week when they beat PSG at the Parc des Princes to retain their 100% record, it is bittersweet. Monaco went into deadline day prepared to make a sacrifice.
Balogun was their top scorer last season and had shone at the World Cup for USA, but his exit had been planned. Matthis Abline had arrived from Nantes at the start of the window to take his place and everything was going “as planned” in the words of the club’s CEO, Thiago Scuro. It wasn’t so simple though.
In the midst of Balogun’s on-again-off-again move to Everton, Monaco agreed and then reneged on a deal to sell Lamine Camara to Chelsea. No manager would want to lose the midfielder, but Monaco had been forced to accept Chelsea’s offer, having made promises to French football’s financial watchdog, the DNCG, to reduce the wage bill and raise considerable funds in player sales. However, by the time a deal was struck with Chelsea, the French transfer window had closed and Camara’s replacement, Érik Lira, was no longer an option, especially given that the non-EU spot, occupied by Balogun, had not been vacated as planned.
Ultimately, neither Camara nor Balogun left. Good news, you might think. If it was, you couldn’t necessarily tell in Scuro’s hastily convened press conference on Wednesday, when the club’s CEO rallied against the idea that Monaco were “the bad guys in the room” following the series of unfortunate events the night before.
It remains to be seen what the solutions are. Luís, meanwhile, bemoaned an “imbalanced” squad: too many centre-forwards, a lack of midfield cover, and no recognised right-winger after Maghnes Akliouche’s move to PSG. The squad may lack balance and the club did not bring in the money they need, but the reason for their despondency is also the reason they can now harbour greater ambitions for the season.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
