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 Ligue 1 club Nantes a club record £15 million transfer fee for Emiliano 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.
However, two days after the transfer was completed, Sala and 59-year-old pilot David Ibbotson travelled via a private plane that 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 took place in March 2022, and in August, CAS found Cardiff liable for payment as the transfer had been completed at the time of Sala's death.
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 Welsh-based Premier League club 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, and was fifth top goalscorer in Ligue 1 that season. Sala had nearly been loaned out to Turkish Süper Lig 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 by Nantes in excess of €10m, before Sala rejected the opportunity, and he also turned down a move to Chinese Super League club Beijing Renhe the following month.
At the time Cardiff established their interest in buying 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 to June 2020, and it was believed that the club's 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 admitted that 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. French newspaper L'Equipe reported that negotiations to sell Sala were being secretly undertaken with Cardiff by Nantes chairman Waldemar Kita, against the wishes of Halilhodžić, and without Sala's knowledge or involvement.
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 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. Cardiff promoted the transfer via social media and released a statement via the club's website titled "Sala is a Bluebird"; Sports website The Athletic reported in August 2019 that this unveiling was premature, as the Premier League had rejected the payment schedule proposed by the two clubs, with a deadline for a renewed contract set for 22 January.
With the public announcement of the transfer made, Sala's first game was now believed to be 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 had felt pressure from both clubs to complete the transfer, describing the duration of the negotiations 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 British newspaper 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 for the first time on 6 January 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, as well as Crystal Palace, seeking to clarify if they had ever been interested in transferring Sala. The Daily Telegraph reported that McKay was most likely the source of a November newspaper story additionally linking Sala to Leicester City and Fulham.
British 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, but denied choosing the pilot or the plane, as did his son Mark. 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, with text messages released showing that Sala had liaised with Willie's son Jack McKay regarding the travel arrangements. The BBC reported that McKay and his sons had organised all the flights pertaining to the transfer, including those for Warnock and his assistant Kevin Blackwell during initial scouting trips, as well as for flights regarding transfer negotiations which involved Sala, N'Diaye and the McKays flying to and from Nantes. McKay admitted he was "overjoyed" to help arrange flights for Sala.
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. During a 2021 trial, plane operator David Henderson, who helped to arrange the fatal flight, told Cardiff Crown Court that McKay was "very insistent" on the flight going ahead at the earliest opportunity, and during a 2022 inquest, McKay denied any knowledge pertaining to illegalities of Henderson's operations, but confirmed he had used Henderson's services for 14 years and had only contacted him upon learning Cardiff had not arranged the flight.
South Wales Police received a complaint from Cardiff in early March, alleging McKay had threatened to "burn Cardiff" and "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. Lawyers acting on behalf of the club sent a letter to McKay's lawyers requesting he desist, and additionally banned him from the Cardiff City Stadium. 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, though police confirmed he had not been arrested as part of the investigation.
Death of Sala
Aftermath: legal disputes and court cases Nantes ask Cardiff for payment