Emiliano Sala: 'A tragic plane crash; a stain on football's reputation'

The morning of Tuesday, 22 January 2019 is etched on my memory as if it were yesterday.

Waking to the news that a light aircraft had disappeared over the Channel en route from Nantes to Cardiff, my partner - a Cardiff City fan - turned to me and said: "Our new striker was coming from Nantes last night."

I dismissed the link. Surely there must be lots of planes making that journey all the time?

But within the hour, BBC Wales football correspondent Rob Phillips reported Cardiff were "seeking clarification" about the missing plane and there was "genuine concern" at the club.

Argentine Emiliano Sala had signed for Cardiff just three days earlier in a club record £15m transfer from FC Nantes. As that Tuesday unfolded, instead of welcoming their much-anticipated new striker to a training session, they were instead facing a barrage of enquiries from the world's media about an unfolding tragedy.

It was soon confirmed Sala was on the Piper Malibu plane - piloted, it would emerge over the next 48 hours, by David Ibbotson - when it disappeared from radar north of the Channel Islands, just over an hour after take-off from Nantes Atlantique Airport. At that time, there were no signs of wreckage.

Few stories I've covered as a journalist captured the public's attention the way this one seemed to.

Sala was a prolific striker revered by Nantes ers. For Cardiff fans he was the longed-for talismanic figure who might help save their struggling team. He was a talented, adored young footballer tragically lost just as his Premier League career was about to begin.

The level of interest in the story was such that my investigations team colleague Kayley Thomas and I were asked to start looking into the circumstances around the flight. The result is the BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Wales podcast series: Transfer: The Emiliano Sala Story. You can listen to episodes here.

As we began researching, it became clear this was a story that wouldn't be leaving the headlines any time soon.

And as the fourth anniversary of the crash approaches, so it has proved.

When Emiliano Sala was born, a month prematurely, on 31 October 1990, his parents were warned he might never be able to run because of the effect on his respiratory system. But he exceeded all expectations, growing into a healthy and energetic child, close to his younger siblings Romina and Dario.

At the age of four, Sala's mother Mercedes Taffarel took him to a local football club, San Martin de Progreso, initially wearing a pair of trainers as the family couldn't afford football boots.

His ion for the sport flourished and when football scouts spotted his potential aged 15 he decided to move 200km away to train with an Argentine football college in San Francisco, in Cordoba province.

"He told me that I should let him go; that all he wanted in his life was to kick a ball and if I didn't let him, I would be killing him inside," Mercedes said in a poignant statement to his inquest earlier this year.

San Francisco's connections with European clubs helped Sala pursue his dream of playing the game at a higher level. Stints with teams in Spain, Portugal and followed before he was signed by FC Nantes in 2015. There he scored 48 goals in 133 appearances over three seasons, making him a fan favourite - and also a target for management to sell on.

When Cardiff's manager at the time, Neil Warnock, saw him play against Marseille at the beginning of December 2018 - scoring one goal and setting up another in a 3-2 Nantes victory - he knew he'd found his new striker.

Negotiations began - led by agent Mark McKay, whose company Mercato Sports had the mandate from Nantes to sell Sala. A chain of events that would lead to catastrophe was set in motion.

When Kayley and I visited Nantes for the first time in December 2019, as the first anniversary of Sala's death approached, it was clear from conversations with his friends that he was initially unsure about the move to Cardiff.

Marie-Jeanne Munos Castelleanos welcomed us into her cosy bungalow, plying us with coffee and chocolates and chatting away warmly.

Describing herself variously as a surrogate mother or mental coach to Sala, she showed us the many photographs and other mementoes of their friendship. She generously shared voice messages he'd sent her in which he alluded to reservations about the transfer.

"From the start of it all, he hadn't properly decided whether he was even going to Cardiff," Marie-Jeanne told us.

"His mum wanted him to go, but he was worried because he was used to life in Nantes, he had his routine and all that.

"He'd be going to another country, where he didn't know the language. He was a bit worried about it."

Mercedes' statement to the inquest into her son's death also referred to him feeling under pressure about the move, which she said was pursued by the owner of Nantes, Waldemar Kita, for financial reasons "against the wishes of coaching staff and fans".

The transfer fee of £15m was a record for both Nantes and Cardiff.

Sala lived in the small town of Carquefou - a drive of 40 minutes or so outside Nantes. Locals were well used to seeing him as he went about his business; shopping in the supermarket, having a drink or meal in his favourite bar, getting a haircut or worshipping in the local church.

The picture that emerged during our visit was far removed from the typical image of a star footballer. Here was someone who spent much of his free time walking his rescue dog, Nala, or hanging out with hairdresser Jean-Philippe Roussel and his wife Lydie, who had become close friends.

Roussel says: "He knew that leaving Nantes could be a good career move, but was he in favour going to Cardiff? No… he was being pushed out, to be honest."

Nantes told the Transfer podcast series that Sala chose to leave of his own free will "after many great years" there.

Nantes er Louis Chene, who lives in the centre of Carquefou, would sometimes bump into Sala and chat to him about the club's fortunes. He recalls Sala going around the town saying goodbye to everyone when he knew he was leaving.

"He went down the street and at every little shop he knew, he went in," Chene says. "He wanted to say a personal goodbye to people."

Frederic Happe, a journalist with Agence Presse who had followed Sala's career in , says: "He really was the most likeable person you could imagine. He was one of the few players who asked you how you were when you came into the conference room: 'Hi chaps, how are you doing"Billion Dollar Downfall: The Dealmaker " loading="lazy" src="https://image.staticox.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fichef.bbci.co.uk%2Face%2Fstandard%2F480%2Fsprodpb%2Fc1f3%2Flive%2F64425c60-42e5-11f0-835b-310c7b938e84.jpg" width="385" height="216" class="ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950"/>