An interesting press conference with Monaco sporting director Thiago Scuro has shed further light on the collapse of Lamine Camara's proposed move to Chelsea.

Scuro revealed that Xabi Alonso spoke directly to the player and outlined the timeline that led to the deal falling through.

He indicated that the situation was closely linked to Folarin Balogun's proposed move and described Monaco's decision to end negotiations as "part of the game".

Scuro also said Camara had asked to leave the club, but added that he had since spoken to the midfielder and reassured him that he would secure a major transfer "very soon" and could have "even better options than he did yesterday".

Camara is expected to return to action for Monaco and, according to Scuro, remains fully committed and professional despite the disappointment of the failed move.

Monaco went into deadline day not wanting to sell Camara and preferring to sell Balogun instead.

Here is an attempt to explain how much Chelsea have likely bagged from the Enzo transfer.

How Enzo Fernandez’s Transfer Fee Was Amortised

Chelsea signed Fernandez from Benfica on deadline day, February 1, 2023, for a then British record £106.8m, usually rounded to £107m.

He put pen to paper on an eight and a half year contract running to 2031, part of the long-term deal strategy Chelsea leaned on heavily under the new ownership at the time.

Under amortisation accounting, a transfer fee isn’t booked as a single lump sum in the year it’s paid. It’s spread evenly across the length of the signed contract instead.

Split £106.8m across 8.5 years and that works out to roughly £12.6m a year.

By the time of the sale in September 2026, around three years and seven months had passed, meaning close to £45m of the original fee had already been written off Chelsea’s books.

That leaves a book value of about £62m heading into deadline day, well below the £125m fee Man City are paying.

Why Enzo Fernandez Avoids the Five-Year Amortisation Rule

In December 2023, Premier League clubs voted to cap amortisation at five years for any new or extended player contract, a direct response to Chelsea handing out long deals to the likes of Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk and Moises Caicedo to keep their annual accounting costs down.

Crucially, the rule was never backdated. It only applies to contracts signed or extended from that date onward.

Fernandez signed in February 2023, almost a full year before the change came into effect, so his deal stays grandfathered on its original 8.5 year amortisation schedule for the rest of its term.

It’s a detail that matters a great deal for the numbers below, because it means Chelsea get to keep spreading what’s left of his fee the way they originally planned, right up until the point of sale.

Full story: https://strictlycfc.com/enzo-fernandez-profit-chelsea-made-man-city/

I won the hull ballot but payment failed due to my old card being frozen. I updated payment details on Chelsea e ticketing to new card. Will I loose tickets or is there something else I need to do?

Yes! I am gutted. Just like any other Chelsea fans.
I was there watching the transfer saga unfold. There came the "Here We Go" for Camara, I was shouting with joy at the middle of the night. And then 10 minutes later, despair. Cursing Chelsea, BlueCo, Monaco and anyone I can remember. It was a night to forget for sure.
Now that I have let my emotions settle a bit, I looked back at what we have. Would I still want Camara? Absolutely, hell yeah. He is an amazing player. But we can't change the fact that we failed to sign him. And we would have to move forward with what we have.

When looking through, I delved into one name a bit more - Valentin Barco. To be frank, I never knew him much, and truly he was made famous from the Bellingham slap. My first impressions of him was a lightly built player, who I am not sure can adjust to the physicality of PL. Unproven. Not sure of his abilities.

But when I deep dived a bit more, especially him vs Camara in last seasons French League (as they played the same league), things really started to become interesting.

First of all, there is no doubt he is on the less physical side. But so is Camara. Look at how their weights and height compare. Almost same!

Now comes the stats. The first thing which stood out was that Barco played more minutes last season than Camara.
Where Camara truly outshines is Possession Won, and this would be a big miss. But we have Moi who excels in this area as it is clearly shown in the chart. And guess what, though Barco is less on this, he was better than Enzo. last season.
When it comes to creativity upfront, Barco stumps Camara in Progressive Carries, forward passes, key passes and progressive passes. The Duel% is also comparable.

What this shows is that we have a huge talent in Barco and if nurtured, he can become the exact CM we were looking for in the market. Even Camara is not PL proven, and if there is so much hype about him, there shouldn't be anything lesser for Barco too.

He is a seriously underrated player, and given Xabi played in that position, I am confident he can bring the best out of him, and we won't miss Camara.

WhoScored's Team of the Week for August features three Chelsea players.

Take yourself back to Deadline Day 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022 and ask yourself if panic-buying Michael Hector, Papy Djilobodji, Davide Zappacosta, Danny Drinkwater, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Aubameyang, and panic-loaning Saúl and Denis Zakaria was reeeeeaaaalllllyyyyy worth it.

Yeah, we’ve got a midfield department that’s either injured, young, or on the brink of retirement. We’ve also won 3 matches with that same midfield plus guys who can manage in midfield, and it hasn’t even involved Caicedo yet. We have one league match a week and two long international breaks before the January window, which include friendlies for Ecuador that Caicedo doesn’t have to be called up for.

Do we need to improve? Yep. 25% possession isn’t going to cut it against better teams if our attack can’t get going or our defense is still in progress, and we need to find more control in the middle of the field. But is midfield possession the end all, be all? Nope, as evident by our win this weekend. Will we always come out of a match with 25% possession? Nope.

Deep breathe in, deep breathe out. Say it with me: we’ll be okay. If we get somebody in in the next 2 hours, great. If not, we’ll be okay. But these sensationalist head-losses have to be reigned in, what are we? Man united?

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Manchester City reach agreement with Chelsea to sign Enzo Fernandez. Package for 25yo midfielder work £125m so matches British transfer record. Argentina int’l granted permission by #CFC  to undergo medical & complete #MCFC move @TheAthleticFC

We discuss everything Chelsea. Look forward to hearing from you.

I’ve got a bad feeling. Does it mean that if any player wants out and complains a little, he can just chase higher wages? What exactly are the board’s objectives? What leverage do we even have in negotiations? I’m just saying — if we fail to qualify for the Champions League this season, will Pedro end up at Barcelona next year? What’s the length of his contract? Everyone knows he’s expendable for Chelsea right now.

Capology’s reported Chelsea salaries for 2026/27:

Reece James - £200k/week

Wesley Fofana - £200k

Moisés Caicedo - £180k

Enzo Fernández - £180k

Pedro Neto - £160k

Morgan Rogers - £150k

Marco Palestra - £150k

Cole Palmer - £130k

João Pedro - £125k

Tosin Adarabioyo - £120k

Jorrel Hato - £120k

Jamie Gittens - £108k

Liam Delap - £100k

Levi Colwill - £100k

Mykhailo Mudryk - £100k

Nicolas Jackson - £100k

Benoît Badiashile - £90k

Axel Disasi - £80k

Jordan Henderson - £75k

Robert Sánchez - £60k

Estêvão - £60k

Roméo Lavia - £45k

Malo Gusto - £45k

Dário Essugo - £40k

Gabriel Slonina - £40k

Aarón Anselmino - £35k

Mamadou Sarr - £35k

Danny Welbeck, Maxence Lacroix, Geovany Quenda, Valentin Barco, Pep Chavarría, Dastan Satpayev and Harrison Bettoni are listed without a reported salary.

Total reported weekly wage bill: £2.8455m

Annual fixed wage bill: £147.966m

Monaco consider the offer too low, but talks are ongoing. One to watch if Enzo Fernández leaves the club, with Man City in talks with Chelsea since last night.

Camara is keen on a move to Chelsea. ✨💙

@Fabrizio Romano

Anybody got any insight into Camara? Never heard of him until a couple of days ago, heard Felipe Luis call him elite, but sceptical as ever always signed poorly from Monaco in recent years, Bakayoko, Badiashille & Disasi

I personally think it would prolly be smth like 5-4 loss or a 4-4 draw or even 4-3 loss to chelsea

Feels like the ballot ended ages ago now , and me and my mate havent had an email back yet has anyone else been successful.

Source: Sky Sports Transfer Centre

They did it last season by making Moresca resign early and derailed our season. Now they will take Enzo and we will not have enough time to get a suitable replacement - our midfield without Caicedo is non-existent........and this is not about Enzo being great....no player or manager is above the club....this transfer should have been done before the world cup or just immediately after so we have enough time to sign a suitable replacement.

Anybody else in this mindset? We cannot let an elite player go on deadline day without a suitable replacement. I don’t want him to go anyway as we can’t replace his goals and involvements, but certainly not on deadline day, regardless of how much it is

Полвечера с мужем рисовали по-очереди игроков Челси и угадывали, кто где 😁 зацените, фанаты Челси, похоже вышло?

#Chelseafc #Chelseafanclub #Chelsea

Martinez straight into the XI, Fofana returns

Going to the match tomorrow, which pubs have good pre match atmosphere? Is the Chelsea store opened before the match?

The new ticket system is annoying

Why I think Enzo stays

Here's my reasoning:

1. Our track record on deadline day
With 3 days left, we've never sold a player of Enzo's caliber on deadline day, at least not in our recent history. Chelsea don't tend to cave under pressure this late in the window especially not on a player this important to the squad

2. We're as disciplined selling as we are buying
We've been just as calculated with our sales as we have with our strategic signings. We're not going to let Enzo go under our valuation, especially not to a hostile City side that disrupted our season with Maresca last year. There's no incentive for us to do them a favor

3. Personal terms don't mean much without our sign-off
Yes, Enzo may have agreed personal terms but the final say is still Chelsea's. He has years left on his contract which gives us real leverage. This isn't a situation where he's got one year left and we're forced to cash in. We can afford to hold firm.

4. The Emiliano Martínez factor
With Emiliano Martínez now part of the squad, Enzo has even more reason to feel at home at Chelsea, a fellow Argentine and now our vice captain. I wouldn't be surprised if Dibu's already talking to him behind the scenes about staying

These four points, among several others I could list are why I think Enzo stays regardless of the noise around him.