Howard Johnson reportsThe sad loss of Argentinian striker
Emiliano Sala and British pilot David
Ibbotson in an air accident on January
21 led to an outpouring of grief on
both sides of the Channel, with the
ripples spreading far and wide as
the football world paid tribute to
the 28-year-old footballer.
Yet even before Sala’s body had
been recovered from the wreckage of
the Piper PA-46 Malibu light aircraft
in which he had been travelling from
France to Wales, football’s harsher side
had begun to show itself.
BBC Wales revealed that French club
Nantes, who had sold Sala to Cardiff City
for €17million on January 19, were
demanding the first of three payment
instalments agreed for the player.
In an article on their website, French
TV news channel LCI quickly captured
the general mood when they wrote of
the affair in a piece entitled Death of
Emiliano Sala: after the human drama,
now it’s about big money.
If the knee-jerk reaction to a subject
as grubby as money in such tragic
circumstances is one of distaste if
not revulsion, the French media has
nonetheless been careful in its reaction
to the supposed spat. As the article on
the LCI website was at pains to point out,
“on paper, The Bluebirds are obliged to
pay the fee to the French club because
a contract was signed, but things are
more sensitive and complex than they
might at first appear”.
France’s biggest daily sports paper,
L’Équipe, managed to get hold of Cardiff
chairman Mehmet Dalman on the
evening the story broke for a short
interview. A wary Dalman confirmed
that Nantes had sent an invoice for
a first payment of €6m, but wouldn’t
comment on Nantes’ attitude while
adding: “I don’t think Cardiff have said
that we’re not going to pay.”
A number of French media outlets
confirmed that the official paperwork for
the Sala transfer was completed by FIFA
on the afternoon of January 21, “a few
hours before the tragic accident”. They
also reported that an invoice had been
generated automatically by FIFA’s
International Transfer Matching System,
an online platform that “introduced
standardisation and enhanced
transparency based on FIFA’s regulations
on the status and transfer of players”.
According to agreed norms, NantesFrom tragedy
to farce
Arguments about money overshadow
mourning for Argentinian striker
eyewitness
FRANCETribute...Nantes fans (left) pay their respects to Emiliano Sala (above) who had left to join Cardiff City