Monaco are top of Ligue 1, just beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes, and have won all five of their opening fixtures. So why does their CEO sound like a man who just lost a court case?

Because in French football, success and financial panic are never far apart. Monaco are living proof.

The Mess Behind the Numbers

The short version: Monaco went into deadline day expecting to sell Folarin Balogun to Everton and Lamine Camara to Chelsea. Neither deal went through. Both players stayed. And rather than popping corks, the club's CEO Thiago Scuro was holding a hastily convened press conference insisting Monaco were not "the bad guys in the room."

Here is what actually happened. Balogun, their top scorer last season and a standout at the World Cup with USA, was supposed to leave. Matthis Abline had already been signed from Nantes to replace him. Camara's sale to Chelsea was agreed and then pulled because the French transfer window had closed before the deal was completed, meaning his intended replacement, Érik Lira, was no longer registerable, and Balogun's non-EU squad spot had not been freed up as planned. The whole thing collapsed like a poorly stacked house of cards.

None of this was accidental chaos either. Monaco had made commitments to the DNCG, French football's financial watchdog, to cut the wage bill and generate significant transfer income. They did neither. That obligation does not disappear just because both players are now available on a Saturday afternoon. As Scuro put it: "Unfortunately, we have to face this situation and find solutions in different ways." What those solutions look like, nobody quite knows yet.

Manager Filipe Luís has been honest about the consequences on the pitch too. The squad is "imbalanced" in his words: too many centre-forwards, a shortage of midfield cover, and no natural right-winger after Maghnes Akliouche departed for PSG. These are real problems, even if the results have not shown it yet.

The Reason to Worry Is Also the Reason to Be Excited

Here is the contradiction Monaco cannot escape. The two players they failed to sell are also the reasons they are flying.

Balogun has not even played yet this season due to injury, and Monaco have still scored 12 goals in five games. When he returns, that attack gets considerably sharper. And Camara, despite the Chelsea saga swirling around him, was outstanding in the second half against PSG, with goals from Nazinho and Stanis Idumbo completing a comeback win. Luís was unequivocal about him: "If he maintains his level, it won't just be one club, all the big clubs will come for him." Scuro added there would be "even better options and offers" down the line. So the plan is not to keep him, just to sell him later and for more money.

That is Monaco's reality. [The summer window was already a complicated exercise across Europe's top leagues](/uprise/football/world-cup-wishlists-early-movers-big-clearouts-2026-summer-transfer), and Monaco found themselves on the wrong end of the timing. [Chelsea's business this summer](/uprise/football/chelseas-perfect-yet-unserious-start-to-the-premier-league-season) contributed directly to Monaco's deadline day implosion.

Luís himself is a genuine asset. He took Flamengo to Copa Libertadores glory, held PSG to a draw in the Intercontinental Cup, and has now made a better start at Monaco than Arsène Wenger managed. That is not nothing.

The verdict: Monaco are genuinely good right now. They are also sitting on a financial pressure that has not gone away, carrying a squad their own manager admits is unbalanced, and knowing their best players are only there on borrowed time. Top of Ligue 1, yes. Comfortable? Not even close.