Folarin Balogun Walks Away From Everton After Midnight

Folarin Balogun left Everton’s Finch Farm after midnight on 2 September without signing, collapsing a €45 million move from Monaco. The United States striker had arrived on Merseyside at lunchtime on 1 September to finish a deal both clubs thought was done. A medical flag, a rewritten fee and a walk-out after the deadline left David Moyes with one recognised centre-forward.

Everton had already sold Beto to Fiorentina and Iliman Ndiaye to Manchester City on the same day. The replacement they had counted as signed never put pen to paper.

After Midnight, Balogun Left Finch Farm Unsigned

Monaco sources said the clubs had agreed an initial €45 million (£38.58 million, $52.3 million) plus €5 million (£4.3 million, $5.8 million) in add-ons, a package that would have ranked behind only Christian Pulisic’s $73 million move to Chelsea in 2019 among American transfers. Personal terms were still being closed when Balogun sat for his medical at Finch Farm.

Something in that exam stopped the original paperwork. Everton went back to Monaco for a lower guaranteed fee and more bonuses, then filed a deal sheet with the Premier League so the clubs could use the extra two hours after 11pm to finish the file. The player and both clubs signed that sheet before 23:00 BST. He still walked out after midnight.

THE DEADLINE NIGHT

1. 31 August 2026: Everton and Monaco agree a fee for Balogun, 25, who has a contract in the principality until 2028.
2. 1 September, lunchtime: Balogun arrives on Merseyside for a medical at Finch Farm after Beto’s move to Fiorentina is confirmed.
3. 1 September, evening: Everton staff flag a fitness issue; talks reopen on a cheaper guaranteed fee and richer add-ons.
4. 1 September, 21:00-23:00 BST: Everton lodges a deal sheet. League rules then run the paperwork window to 01:00, though an international move must still clear FIFA’s Transfer Matching System by midnight.
5. 2 September, after midnight: Balogun leaves Finch Farm without signing and returns toward Monaco.

Journalist David Ornstein reported that the United States international decided not to proceed once the terms had been rewritten. Ben Jacobs, a football correspondent, said the medical “threw up an issue,” the clubs renegotiated, and the player then had a change of heart.

The Medical Flag That Repriced the Transfer

Nobody in public has named the finding. Calling it a failed medical overstates what is known. Everton’s doctors saw a problem. Monaco and the player’s camp said he was ready to play. The dispute then became a price argument, which is how a lot of late medicals end when a buying club wants leverage.

Fabrizio Romano wrote that Everton’s medical staff believed Balogun was not 100 percent fit, while Monaco and the player’s camp insisted there were no issues. That split, not a public diagnosis, is what the night turned on.

Folarin has just started his preseason; he came back late from the World Cup and had to recover from a minor injury he picked up with his national team. He couldn’t train any further. He rejoined the group this week, and we hope he will continue to do so soon.

Filipe Luís, Monaco head coach

Luís gave that update about two weeks before deadline day. Balogun was then left out of Monaco’s 2-0 win over Marseille on 31 August. He had not played a club minute since the World Cup. Monaco still maintained he was fit enough to be sold.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The flag: Everton’s medical staff told the club he was not fully fit, and the original fee was reopened.
• The rewrite: Monaco accepted a lower fixed sum and higher bonuses so a deal sheet could be filed.
• The walk-out: Balogun left Finch Farm after midnight without signing the contract.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The diagnosis: No club has identified the test that caused the hold-up.
• The new numbers: The revised guaranteed fee and bonus schedule were not published.
• The next sale: Whether Monaco will try again in Turkey, Saudi Arabia or January is open.

A player who has just watched his wage offer and his medical report move against him in the same evening has a simple choice. He can accept the new package, or he can keep a Monaco contract that still has two years to run. He chose the contract.

Monaco Cancelled Chelsea to Keep the Wrong Sale

The wreckage did not stop at Finch Farm. Monaco had spent the day treating Balogun and Lamine Camara as alternative sales, and it picked the wrong one.

Chelsea had already agreed to sell Enzo Fernández to Manchester City for £125 million, a joint British record, with Camara lined up as the replacement. Two Chelsea bids were rejected before Monaco cut its ask when Balogun’s Everton move first wobbled. Camara, 22, completed a medical in France and had terms on a long contract. BBC Sport said the fee had reached £47.1 million.

Once Everton revived Balogun on cheaper terms, Monaco pulled Camara. Chelsea said it was told in writing that the deal would not go ahead, and that no explanation came with the letter. People close to the talks said the stance followed the Everton revival. Camara had played in the Marseille win that Balogun missed. Monaco preferred to sell the striker it had already decided was leaving.

Then Balogun walked, and Monaco kept both players and neither fee. Camara trained at La Turbie on the morning of 2 September. Balogun was not in that session. A move for Cruz Azul midfielder Érik Lira, which needed a non-EU squad place Monaco had planned to free, fell over with the sales.

Chelsea honoured Fernández’s departure anyway. It closed the English window without the midfielder it had used to justify that sale. Monaco, which needed a major outgoing for its books, ended the night with the two footballers it had spent 1 September trying to move.

One Centre-Forward Until January

Everton’s own ledger is harsher because the club sold first. Ndiaye joined City for an initial £60 million plus £5 million in add-ons and signed a five-year contract. “I’ve worked my whole life for an opportunity like this,” Ndiaye said. Beto left for Fiorentina the same day, with the club confirming 25 goals in 113 appearances since he arrived from Udinese in 2023.

When the Balogun file stalled, Everton asked Manchester United about Joshua Zirkzee and Aston Villa about Tammy Abraham. United would not let Zirkzee go with so little time to replace him. Abraham stayed at Villa Park. The Balogun rewrite was the last door, and it closed from the inside.

THE FOUR CLUBS LEFT WITH THE BILL

The rest of Everton’s window was not empty. The club’s own transfer list shows Jack Grealish on loan from City and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in from Lyon on a three-year deal. Grealish, 30, scored twice and added six assists in 20 games on loan last season before a foot injury in January ended his year. Maitland-Niles, 29, has five England caps and can play full-back or midfield. Nathan Patterson went to Torino and Tim Iroegbunam to Hull. Adam Aznou left on loan to Malaga.

WHAT MOYES CAN STILL THROW FORWARD

• Thierno Barry: The 23-year-old is the only senior centre-forward on the books after a mixed first season.
• Jack Grealish: Back on a season loan, a creator rather than a penalty-box nine.
• Wide cover: Brennan Johnson and Tyrique George can drift inside, which is not the same as a starting striker.

Patrick Boyland, Everton correspondent, called the collapse a blow and said others will have to get the side to January. Full-back cover is thin too after Patterson and Aznou left. Grealish can start once he is registered. He cannot be the centre-forward Moyes went shopping for.

How a Home World Cup Built the Fee

The price Everton accepted on 31 August was a World Cup price. Balogun came through Arsenal, made 10 first-team appearances, then scored 22 goals in 39 games on loan at Reims before Monaco paid an initial €30 million in 2023, with €10 million in add-ons. In 2025-26 he returned 19 goals and five assists in 43 games, his best season since the move.

Mauricio Pochettino took him to the 2026 World Cup as the United States’ starting nine. He has 12 goals in 31 matches for the national team. The club page that logged his tournament start still reads like a different life: two goals against Paraguay in a 4-1 win at SoFi Stadium, the first American to score twice in a World Cup match since Bert Patenaude in 1930.

BALOGUN AT THE 2026 WORLD CUP

• Paraguay, 4-1: Finishes at 31 minutes and 45+8, after one strike is ruled offside, and takes man of the match.
• Australia, 2-0: Helps force an own goal and plays through to the last-32.
• Bosnia, 2-0: Scores, then is sent off at 64 minutes; FIFA later overturns the ban after a public row that included U.S. President Donald Trump.
• Belgium, 1-4: Plays the round of 16 defeat that ended the American run.

Three goals in four games made him the third American with three or more at a World Cup, after Patenaude and Landon Donovan in 2010. The red card, and the overturn, followed him into the transfer market. So did the minor injury Luís later described. Tottenham, Aston Villa, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Sunderland and Crystal Palace had all been mentioned before Everton moved late, once Beto’s exit was real.

Arsenal still hold a 17.5 percent sell-on from 2023. That clause paid nothing on 1 September, and it remains attached to a player whose next medical will be read against this one.

Why Did Folarin Balogun Walk Away From Everton?

The short answer is that the deal he travelled for was not the deal on the table after midnight. He had agreed to join on one package. Everton’s doctors then priced him as a risk. Monaco, needing a sale, took less money up front to keep the sheet alive. The player’s choice, once that happened, was whether to sign a thinner contract after a public fitness argument, or to go home.

He went home. That is not the same as failing an exam in the old sense, and it is not the same as Everton simply missing a target. The club sold its centre-forward and its most valuable attacker on the day it still needed the replacement to land. Monaco used that scramble to cancel a written Camara agreement, then lost the Balogun sale that had justified the cancellation.

The Turkish and Saudi windows were still open on 2 September, which matters more for Monaco than for anyone in England. Everton’s next legal chance to buy a striker is January. Until then the Hill Dickinson Stadium attack runs through Barry, with Grealish and the wide players asked to make a No. 9 out of movement.

Balogun is 25, under contract until 2028, and back at a club that spent a night trying to sell him. The medical file that Everton opened is now part of his next negotiation, wherever it is held.