Lamine Camara says the collapse of his Chelsea move is behind him, but the transfer noise has not disappeared. The Monaco midfielder told Standard he had been close to leaving, then added that he has “turned the page” and is focused on the season. Liverpool are still in the frame, and Chelsea's aborted deal is the reason the story has not gone cold.
Camara's own line on the Chelsea collapse
Camara did not pretend the move never existed. “There was a possibility I could leave,” he said, before explaining that it “didn't go through at the last minute and that's part of football.”
He then left the door open a fraction. “I can help the team a lot. Football moves fast. Maybe other opportunities will come along. But for now, I'm staying focused on the season with Monaco.” That is about as close as a player gets to closing the file while still keeping it on the desk.
The football side is at least decent enough to explain why clubs are still interested. Camara has already made 4 Ligue 1 appearances this season, and his average rating stands at 7.48. He also posted a 7.7 against Strasbourg and another 7.7 against Marseille.
Monaco's winter plan and Liverpool's interest
Monaco's stance is the other half of the story. Thiago Scuro said, “The original plan is to find a solution for Balogun. If we find that, it will give Monaco the opportunity to keep Lamine and Golovin until the end of the season.” He added, “That is the ideal plan, but we can’t control the decisions and what will happen in the winter.”
The club's position is simple: Folarin Balogun needs sorting first. Monaco want to sell the former Arsenal striker in the winter window, and that sequence could decide whether Camara stays through to the end of the season or becomes a January option again.
Liverpool's interest is being discussed seriously enough to keep this alive. Mick Brown said Camara is “a name that has been discussed behind the scenes” and expects Liverpool to have held talks about a January move. That lines up with earlier reporting that Chelsea had already agreed a €55m (£47m, $63m) package and a six-year contract with the option of a further year before the move fell apart.
The fee now feels bigger than that aborted summer package, and Monaco know they are not dealing from a position of weakness. Camara has not shut the door himself, Liverpool are still watching, and January is the window that could put the story back on the move.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 5 outlets. How we work →
