According to reports, Chelsea have made the ‘final decision’ to turn away from signing Liverpool target Lamine Camara from AS Monaco.

Camara came incredibly close to joining Chelsea in this summer’s transfer window.

The Blues identified the talented midfielder as a leading target to replace Enzo Fernandez, who joined Manchester City for around £125m on deadline day.

Chelsea refused to sanction Fernandez’s exit without landing a replacement, but the midfielder was granted permission to complete his Man City move as the Blues closed in on Camara.

However, while Fernandez’s move went through, Chelsea’s swoop for Camara dramatically fell through at the last minute.

This is because Monaco pulled the plug on selling Camara because they only wanted one valuable player to leave on deadline day, and they opted to prioritise Folarin Balogun’s sale, which also did not go through.

This has left Camara stuck at Monaco until January at least, though it has been widely reported that Liverpool are planning to join the race to sign him next year after they focused on improving their defence and attack in the summer.

Chelsea reach ‘final decision’ on signing Lamine Camara

And Liverpool could have a free run at signing Camara because journalist Pete O’Rourke has told Football Insider that Chelsea have made the ‘final decision’ to move past the Monaco star after ‘agreements were reached’ in the summer.

Instead, Chelsea are said to have turned to Bournemouth standout Alex Scott as their new ‘priority’ signing.

O’Rourke explained: “Camara was very close to joining Chelsea in the summer transfer window before that collapsed at the eleventh hour.

“It remains to be seen if Chelsea would renew their interest in Camara, but I think they are looking at other targets instead and have moved on from that deal.

“Alex Scott, right now, is ahead of Camara on Chelsea’s list of targets for the January transfer window, that’s a deal they would like to finally get over the line.”

However, it has also been claimed that Liverpool could target Scott and former England international Glen Johnson thinks the midfielder should choose the Reds.

“As of today, I’d have to say Liverpool,” Johnson said.

“That’s not necessarily due to him getting more game time or anything like that, but I’m saying it more from the perspective of Liverpool as a club being a lot more stable and they’re going in a better direction.

“I’d choose Liverpool purely for stability, but I’m not sure which club he’d get more game time at to be honest. You can certainly understand why both clubs are interested in him though.”