Transfer of Emiliano Sala from FC Nantes to Cardiff City F.C.
The association football transfer of Emiliano Sala from FC Nantes to Cardiff City F.C. occurred on 19 January 2019. After month-long negotiations between the two clubs, Welsh-based Premier League club Cardiff City agreed to pay French club Nantes a club record £15 million transfer fee for Sala, a 28-year-old Argentine striker. Sala was Cardiff manager Neil Warnock's prime target in the club's attempt to stave off relegation during the 2018–19 season. Travelling via a private plane from Nantes to Cardiff two days  after the transfer was completed, Sala and 59-year-old pilot David Ibbotson disappeared over the English Channel, and an official search operation for the pair and the aircraft began immediately. The search was quickly called off, as the chances of Sala or Ibbotson surviving were deemed to be extremely remote. On 7 February, after a new search had begun, Sala's body was recovered from the wreckage of the plane, but Ibbotson's body was never recovered. It later emerged that Ibbotson was unlicensed, as well as unqualified to fly at night, and that both had been exposed to  high levels of carbon monoxide during the flight. A bitter legal dispute involving the two clubs began before Sala's body had been recovered, with Nantes demanding the first of three payments for the player. Cardiff refused to make the payment, claiming Sala was not legally their player. Nantes reported Cardiff to Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), who ruled in favour of Nantes after an investigation, leading Cardiff to begin a protracted legal process with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Cardiff received a ban from buying any new players for three transfer windows, also subject to an  ongoing legal appeal. The CAS hearing is currently set for March 2022. In 2020, Cardiff filed papers citing wrongdoing by Nantes, an unnamed individual believed to be Nantes chairman Waldemar Kita, and agents Willie McKay and his son Mark McKay, and in 2021 accused the club of forging an antedated cheque. Though no longer a licensed agent, the elder McKay had played a central role in the transfer, including arranging meetings between the involved parties and generating fake interest in the player, and was responsible for arranging the fatal flight. He was given an official police warning for his conduct  towards Cardiff members of staff in the aftermath of the transfer. Background. Emiliano Sala, an Argentine striker, signed for French Ligue 1 side Nantes from "" rivals Girondins de Bordeaux on 20 July 2015, signing a five-year contract for a fee of £600k (€1m). At the time of his move to Cardiff City, he was 28 years old and was the top goalscorer for Nantes during his final season at the club, having scored 13 goals in 21 appearances in the Ligue 1 season. Sala had nearly been loaned out to Turkish club Galatasaray in the summer , as he was not deemed to be in the plans of manager Miguel Cardoso. Earlier in 2018, English team Brighton & Hove Albion had a bid accepted in excess of €10m before Sala rejected the opportunity, and he also turned down a move to Chinese club Beijing Renhe the next month. At the time Cardiff established their interest in Sala in December 2018, they had recently been promoted from the EFL Championship but were struggling to score goals in the Premier League, with their top goalscorer of the season to that point being makeshift centre forward Callum Paterson with  four goals; the situation led Cardiff manager Neil Warnock to attend a Nantes game against Marseille in December to personally scout Sala, who would score his final ever goal in the game. Sala's contract with Nantes ran a further 18 months, and it was believed that their initial asking price of £25m could be reduced to £15m, with Warnock's personal visit to France making Cardiff the most likely destination amid interest from other Premier League clubs. Transfer. In December 2018, Cardiff agreed a club-record transfer fee of £15 million (€20 million ) with Nantes for Sala, but later in the month Warnock announced there was doubt as to whether the deal would commence, as Nantes had changed their asking price, saying he and Cardiff would not be "held to ransom", while Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman admitting their pursuit for Sala was "not going well". On 27 December, Nantes officially rejected Cardiff's offer, and it appeared increasingly unlikely the transfer would proceed as Sala reportedly favoured a move to a team participating in European competition, rather than a team battling relegation. Nantes manager Vahid Halilhodžić repeatedly express his desire for Sala to  remain at the club. Sala remained a target for Cardiff, and Warnock again travelled to France to watch Sala in action, while on 12 January Dalman revealed the deal was "not dead", asking for fans to be patient. In 2021, Dalman would claim that Warnock had gone against the wishes of the board, who had refused to sanction the cost of the transfer, and gained direct permission from Cardiff owner Vincent Tan. At the behest of Nantes chairman Waldemar Kita, Sala travelled to Cardiff on 14 January with his agent Meissa N'Diaye for a meeting with Warnock and chief executive  Ken Choo, described as "constructive" by Mark McKay, Nantes' acting representative in the transfer talks. With the deal close to being completed, Sala was reported to have withdrawn from the Nantes squad scheduled to play Nîmes Olympique on 16 January, but later that evening Sala was named by Nantes as a substitute. On the morning of 18 January, Sala flew back to Cardiff to conduct a medical ahead of the transfer. which was announced to have been completed later that day. Sala rejected a "huge" offer from an undisclosed Chinese club, and the signing was completed the next day, with  Sala signing a three and a half year contract, but was finalised too late for him to be able to appear in a Premier League fixture against Newcastle United the following day. Sala remained in Cardiff to complete press duties, and was officially unveiled as a Cardiff player at 7pm on 19 January following a 3–0 defeat to Newcastle, with the announcement rushed through to mitigate against fan reaction due to the loss. His first game was now scheduled to be against Arsenal on 22 January, before flying back to Nantes to collect his personal belongings and say goodbye  to his Nantes teammates. Speaking to Cardiff City's website, Sala described being the club's new record signing as "special". At an inquest into his death in 2022, Sala's mother Mercedes Taffarel said that he bad felt pressure from both clubs to complete the transfer, describing the duration of the transfer as "very intense" in a written statement. Involvement of Willie McKay. Former football agent Willie McKay played a central role in the transfer, despite not being a licensed intermediary since being declared bankrupt in 2015, and was one of five agents and intermediaries who were due to  receive payment as part of the transfer; in addition to Willie and son Mark McKay, as well as Sala's agent N'Diaye, Matthew Syed of "The Times" reported that French agents Baba Dramé and Bakari Sanogo were also to gain financially from the transfer, with Willie saying the cut was 10% of the transfer fee. In an e-mail leaked to the media soon after the transfer, it was shown that McKay had written to Sala to inform him of his role in the transfer and the arrangements he could make, while also informing Sala that he had generated fake  interest from Premier League clubs West Ham United and Everton in order to raise the asking price, and therefore generate more money for all of the involved parties. As a result of these revelations, Cardiff would write letters to the clubs mentioned, seeking to clarify if they had ever been interested in transferring Sala. Broadcaster Sky Sports revealed that the extent of McKay's involvement dated back to Warnock's original scouting trip to France, with McKay arranging all subsequent trips involving Cardiff and Nantes representatives, while McKay himself confirmed to the media he had also arranged and paid for  the flight which led to Sala and Ibbotson's deaths, claiming Sala had been "abandoned in a hotel" and left to arrange his own travel. Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman said that Sala had turned down Cardiff's travel arrangements, choosing instead to make his own arrangements to arrive in Cardiff quicker. During a 2021 trial, plane operator David Henderson, who arranged the flight, told Cardiff Crown Court that McKay was "very insistent" on the flight going ahead at the earliest opportunity. McKay also accused Cardiff first of trying to throw him under the bus after Sala's death, and later  of trying to make him a scapegoat. Dalman criticised McKay for his role in the transfer, describing his behaviour as "shoddy", and saying there was a wild west mentality amongst agents, while manager Neil Warnock denied claims he had signed Sala because of an alleged friendship with McKay, saying similar arrangements were needed with agents to sign players from France. South Wales Police received a complaint from Cardiff in early March, alleging McKay had threatened to "kill everybody" at the club, as well as confronting members of staff both in person and via telephone, and threatening violence against Choo and  player-liaison officer Callum Davies; McKay confirmed to French sports newspaper "L'Equipe" that he had had an altercation with the pair. On 21 March, Metropolitan Police were also investigating McKay over similar offences. At the conclusion of the investigation, McKay was issued with a first instance harassment warning. Aftermath: legal dispute and court case. Nantes ask Cardiff for payment. On 26 January, Cardiff announced that they had frozen all transfer payments pending investigation, and soon after, Sala's former club Bordeaux issued a statement denying reports from French newspaper "" that they had demanded payment which they were due as part  of a sell-on clause. On 6 February, it was reported that Nantes had sent letters to Cardiff threatening legal action if the first payment, believed to be £5.27m (€6m), was not made within 10 working days. Cardiff told the media that the timing was "wrong", and would only make any payment once a full investigation into the crash had been completed. Questions which Cardiff wanted answers to included the reasoning behind Sala travelling in a private plane when the club had offered a commercial flight, and the involvement of agent Willie McKay. Writing in "The  Guardian", journalist Daniel Taylor was critical of the behaviour of both clubs in the immediate aftermath, describing the row over money as a "lack of sensitivity". On 12 February, Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman said the club were still gathering information as to whether a payment would be made and if they were "contractually obliged" to do so. With the payment still not made by 19 February, Nantes were preparing to take the issue to Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international governing body of the sport, but the following day the two clubs agreed an extension of a week  for the first payment. Cardiff were looking into whether an insurance claim of £16m would still be paid out, as any wrongdoing on their part with regards to Sala's flight would annul any policy, and manager Neil Warnock was confident Cardiff were doing things "in the right way". With the extended deadline for the payment passed, Nantes officially reported Cardiff to FIFA regarding the non-payment on 27 February. Cardiff maintained their stance that all facts regarding the event should be determined before progressing, and the following month Cardiff told FIFA the agreement to sign Sala was  not legally binding, contending they had not agreed personal terms with Sala as the Premier League had ruled Sala's demand for his signing-on fee to be paid 100% up front was invalid, and at the time of his death no renegotiations had taken place to make the payments over the course of his contract. At the beginning of April, Cardiff wrote to Nantes to request a meeting to settle the matter directly, but received no response, and so on 15 April, Cardiff submitted their evidence of the case to FIFA, which left Nantes until the end of May  to decide whether to take the case forward. The files of evidence received the nickname of "The Onion" by Cardiff's lawyers, a "toxic" detail which Barney Ronay of "The Guardian" explained was due to there being "so much information here, so many interested parties, so many layers... the more you peel it, the more it stinks". Consequently, the transfer was not included in a full list of transactions involving agents published by The Football Association. FIFA judgment and Cardiff fight back. On 30 September, FIFA ruled in favour of Nantes and demanded that Cardiff must pay the first instalment , with both clubs given 10 days to lodge an appeal. The granting of the International Transfer Certificate by Football Association of Wales was the key reason FIFA had ruled in Nantes favour. Cardiff quickly announced their intent to appeal to Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), stating that there was "clear evidence that the transfer agreement was never completed". Speaking to radio station Talksport, Dalman explained the decision behind the intent to appeal, saying that there needed to be a verdict "which considers all of the relevant contractual information and provides clarity on the full legal situation between our two  clubs", adding that "there is a lot more evidence and a lot more facts that need to be brought out to make an informed decision". FIFA's involvement was concluded on 4 November, when they ordered Cardiff to pay Nantes the first instalment within 45 days or face a transfer ban of three consecutive windows. Cardiff appealed the decision to CAS, saying FIFA had reached their decision based only on a "narrow aspect of the overall dispute". CAS confirmed the appeals process has begun a month later, announcing it would take place in spring 2020, but was delayed first in  May 2020 and again in August, with no fixed hearing date set. On 28 January 2020, it was revealed that Cardiff, through French law firm "Dupond-Moretti Vey", had sent files to French prosecutors as part of a lawsuit against Nantes, and an unnamed individual believed to be chairman Waldemar Kita, saying that "sufficient evidence of wrongdoing" had been found, reiterating their commitment to establishing the full facts of the situation before paying any part of the transfer fee. In the lawsuit, lawyer Antoine Vey alleged "the existence of hidden commissions and sub-commissions". Nantes released a statement in response  to the allegations, accusing Cardiff of exploiting Sala's death. In July, the McKay's were accused of having an illegal double mandate in the transfer; firstly from Nantes to sell Sala, and secondly from West Ham United to purchase the player. In February 2021, Vey filed a secondary case on behalf of Cardiff against Nantes, regarding an alleged backdated cheque; a cheque dated the same day of Sala and Ibbotson's disappearance was sent to Sala's mother Mercedes Taffarel, with Cardiff believing this amounted to "falsification of a cheque" and "attempted fraud", as it was inconceivable the cheque  would have been sent to his mother before his disappearance and ultimate death had even occurred. In August 2021, agent Baba Dramé disclosed to "L'Equipe" that he had been questioned by police for one hour regarding his role in the transfer, but ultimately faced no charges for "illegal acts as a sporting agent" and "illegal use of aerial transport". CAS hearing. Due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and undisclosed "technical reasons", both clubs agreed on multiple occasions to extend deadlines for filing their submissions ahead of a hearing with CAS. In October 2021, French sports newspaper "L'Equipe" reported that  CAS hearing in litigation between the two clubs had finally been set for March 2022. The hearing was closed from all third-party access, and CAS confirmed to PA Media that the arbitration panel would only issue their decision "at a later date". The three-man panel was headed by Ulrich Haas, a German professor of law. According to the "South Wales Echo", Cardiff's case rested on two key components; whether the transfer fee was due, and were Nantes liable for Sala's death.