Emiliano Sala: Cardiff suing Nantes for £100m, chairman Mehmet Dalman confirms
- Published
Cardiff City chairman Mehmet Dalman has confirmed the club is suing FC Nantes for almost £100m over the death of Emiliano Sala.
The striker died in a plane crash in January 2019 while travelling to south Wales from France to complete a £15m transfer to the Bluebirds.
Dalman says paperwork to sue Nantes for 110m euros has been submitted.
"We bought a young man in the prime of his career, in good faith," Dalman told Talksport.
"Somebody, without our knowledge, put him in an unfit aeroplane and flew him in a dangerous time of the day, or night in this case. Unfortunately, the two people died because of it.
"Why is it that it's Cardiff that has to then write the cheque out for as much as that? Cardiff is not a wealthy club, it can't afford this.
"So I don't see why people say we're just after money. We just want to get some justice."
Although Dalman claimed travel arrangements had been made "without our knowledge", Sala's inquest heard that Cardiff's player liaison officer was known to have been aware of the flight.
Dalman confirmed the Cardiff's lawyers were responsible for determining the sum being sought.
"I really think that's very much a legal question and I really don't want to answer that question," he added when asked how they arrived at the fee of 110m euros.
"Our lawyers came up with the number. There is logic to it. It's not a number that we picked from the air."
Sala's plane crashed into the English Channel on 21 January 2019, killing the striker and pilot David Ibbotson.
The Welsh club vowed to take separate legal action against Nantes after the Swiss Federal Tribunal decided the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) did not have jurisdiction to deal with the Bluebirds' claim for damages.
A club statement published following the conclusion of the 2022-23 season stated damages sought were to "recover what the club paid for Emiliano" and for "additional damages for further consequential losses".
Cardiff were subject to a transfer embargo by world governing body Fifa after their initial refusal to pay Nantes the first instalment of the fee for Sala.
They paid that sum - believed to be around £7m - in January, 2023 after their appeal with CAS failed. That payment ended Fifa sanctions.
However, the club is still under a transfer embargo with the EFL over the issue and cannot pay transfer fees for players until May 2024.
The club is challenging the EFL ruling.
Cardiff, managed by Neil Warnock at the time, were relegated from the Premier League later in the season in which Sala died.