>
Cardiff City have finally paid Nantes the first £7m installment of the £15m transfer fee for Emiliano Sala… FOUR YEARS after he died in a plane crash en route to signing, with the Welsh club waiting that FIFA lift the transfer embargo placed on them.
- Cardiff were set to sign striker Emiliano Sala from Nantes in January 2019
- However, the player was killed in a plane crash on his way to complete the deal.
- Cardiff have now paid a fee, believed to be around £7m, for the striker.
- They are hopeful this move will lift the EFL transfer embargo placed on them.
Cardiff City have finally paid Nantes the first installment of the £15 million transfer fee for Emiliano Sala.
The Argentine striker died in a plane crash in January 2019 when he was traveling from France to join Cardiff.
FIFA imposed a three-window embargo because Cardiff refused to pay the first part of the fee.
Cardiff paid the first installment of a £15m transfer fee for Argentine ace Emiliano Sala
Sala died in a plane crash over the English Channel in 2019 en route to signing for Cardiff
Cardiff hope that the payment of around £7m, which includes interest, will cause FIFA to lift the embargo.
Now they called up defender Mark McGuinness from his loan at Sheffield Wednesday to help them in their relegation battle. Cardiff are 20th in the Championship table.
Sala tragically died in a plane crash over the English Channel in January 2019 while flying from France to Wales to say goodbye.
Sala (pictured) spent four years at French club Nantes between 2015 and 2019.
Cardiff’s initial reluctance to pay saw them subject to a three-window transfer embargo
In August, the second-tier side revealed that they had been subject to a transfer embargo after failing to pay the first upgrade on the deal.
Cardiff had been arguing that Sala was not officially their player when the 28-year-old Argentine was killed in a plane crash over the English Channel in January 2019. He was traveling from France to join the then Premier League club.
Cardiff, having initially failed to pay the first installment, was placed under a three-window embargo, which also affected the club.
Cardiff lost their appeal against UEFA, with FIFA ruling that “a three-man panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) heard the appeal in Lausanne earlier this year.”