While the family of Emiliano Sala laments, his transfer gives a glimpse of the "arms race" of football

"FC Nantes have indeed contacted Cardiff to know his intentions, suspecting the Welsh club to save time." Nantes asked two lawyers to study the possible legal remedies to compel Cardiff to honor the payment of the transfer Emiliano Sala and also plans to move to action before FIFA. "

FIFA has not responded to CNN's request for comment.

Football is perhaps as much a professional business as sport, but for many Britons and the small town of Carquefou, near Nantes, that this young man of 28 years had called home since his move in 2015, as well as many others in his country. Native Argentina, Sala is still a friend, a brother and a son.

& # 39; The wreck hunter & # 39;

The football transfer market has been equated with an "arms race".

English football and French football have two transfer windows – during the summer months of June, July and August and in January.

The January window allows clubs struggling against relegation or struggling for the title to correct their potential weaknesses. Cardiff fought the relegation of the Premier League and had targeted Sala in the hope that his ability to score goals would keep them in high flying England.

Thus, while the globalized and ultra-liberal world football, its multi-billion dollar transactions and its commissions on transfers of players, turned to the wheel, it belonged to the general public and the footballers, whose winner of the Cup of the World, Kylian Mbappe, to raise the necessary funds begins the search for the plane in which Sala was when he left France for Wales.

GoFundMe's appeal raised € 200,000 (US $ 227,000) in one day through donations from around the world to a total of € 371,000 (US $ 421,000).

A few hours after the start of the research, the scientist and oceanographer David Mearns, nicknamed "the sinking fighter", and his team of experts had identified the aircraft with the help of a sonar .

When gritty photos of the broken fuselage were made public, it was later confirmed, through the use of a submersible camera, that there was a body in there. wreck. This body was later identified as Sala's.

Sliced ​​world

In April 2018, FIFA organized a consultative workshop in Zurich on the work with football intermediaries and agents. The organization's workgroup transfer system "has identified the subject of the agents as a priority in the ongoing review of the transfer system."

Three years ago, FIFA abolished the agent's or intermediary's license.

"When deregulation took place and intermediaries, it was said, were replaced by the FIFA agent, the clubs then asked to ask how many agents are in the queue, who is paid here ", intermediate of the Russian Federation, Michael di Stefano told CNN Sport.

"And at that time, you have to tell them where the money is going – and that is a progress.

"And the money that would change hands, you know, just between envelopes, briefcases and accounts abroad." I mean that's how football is basically … these are the fundamentals of the industry. "

The unfortunate move from Sala de Nantes to Cardiff City shows how the world of football transfers can be sharp.

None of these agents responded to CNN Sport's request for comment, nor would they speak officially.

"The agents, basically, I mean that they will have fixed fees," added Di Stefano. "If the price were to go from £ 15m ($ 19m) to the original, it would be based on the player's performance and performance.

"It will not be based on what the agents are doing, we would talk about it already, so for example, Nantes would have said something like:" we want 15 million, if you bring more than 15 million, you know we're going to increase your percentage of 5 to 10% if you bring us above the asking price.

"Nantes would not have been dealing with five different agents, they would have made it to a particular agent … he would have been the person who was talking with Nantes about what the French club was going to charge him for the fees that he brought and that he would then have an agreement with his partners on how this would be divided. "

Agent Ndiaye de Sala will be paid with a commission indexed on the 3.5 year contract and the player's salary. As the McKays have been mandated by the player, they will likely receive 10% of the $ 19 million transfer fee, or $ 1.9 million.

Springboard

Sala had started the season for Nantes in a brilliant form, scoring 12 goals in 15 games – a record equal to that of PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe – but he had only 18 months left to run.

"I've always thought he was a scruffy guy who would score 10 to 15 goals each year at the highest level," said Cardiff manager Neil Warnock, in tribute to this 28-year-old man, who played for Bordeaux before joining Nantes in 2015.

"He was a type of Neil Warnock player, someone who works hard in a team, but can also do something special." He was not a young kid, he was at his peak, but he knew that he had things to prove.

"He was in a comfort zone in France, but had improved from time to time and was ready to take that step."

"I thought he could score goals in the Premier League and he had all the ingredients to mix with our locker room."

The truth, however, was that no other British club was interested. McKay ended up admitting her to Sala in one of the e-mails.

"They say you do not want to go to Cardiff," McKay wrote. "It's probably our fault because we have stated in the media that other clubs such as West Ham, Everton, etc. were interested in creating an interest around you."

McKay spoke to Sala about several "more than 600" multi-million dollar deals he and his son had worked on.

In all likelihood, the chances of Sala recruiting one of the biggest clubs in England were low, but the striker still maintained his dream of playing in a European club competition.

Less than two months after Nantes awarded the McKay mandate, Sala flew to Cardiff and signed a three-and-a-half year contract.

A source knowing the transfer confirmed the details of the story first published by The Team, detailing an email exchange between the player and the McKays. Willie McKay has only unveiled his side of the conversation by email. Any correspondence from Sala has not been published.

Shortly after, Sala and Ibbotson then take the cursed flight from Nantes to Cardiff, but which would end prematurely over the Channel Islands.

In his emails to the Team, McKay reveals that he has arranged for the private jet so that Sala can return to Nantes to say goodbye.

"[We will] put a plane at your disposal tonight or tomorrow to pick you up, you and anyone else you want to bring ", reads in the e-mail.

However, McKay's usual driver, Dave Henderson, was unavailable and Henderson highlighted Ibbotson as well as fuel and landing costs.

"It's an Argentinian who never gives up"

Sala's death was mourned throughout the football world by those who knew and loved him, and by those who were so desperate to know him and love him. In Nantes and Cardiff, two groups of supporters united for a man who was about to take the biggest step of his career.

"Arriving on the shores of Edre in July 2015, Emiliano Sala won the hearts of Nantes fans," said Nantes in tribute to the player.

"Through his work, his fight and his boundless kindness, he has become the best striker in the Yellow Shirts over the past three seasons.

"The national and global tributes that were rendered to him are revealing of the person and the player that he was."

They ended the statement with the line sung with such enthusiasm by those who loved the stands. "It's a money that does not give up anything, Emiliano Sala, Emiliano Sala, Emiliano Sala", translated by "C is an Argentinian who never gives up, Emiliano Sala, Emiliano Sala, Emiliano Sala. .. "