The tragic story of Argentine football forward Emiliano Sala has been all over the news for the past year, after a plane crash took his life on January 21, 2019. He was a passenger aboard a light aircraft, flying from Nantes to Cardiff, where he had signed a £15 million contract to play for Cardiff City. And now the focus is being placed on the Welsh team with regard to their handling of the transfer fee that some expected to be given to Nantes. Cardiff City have outrightly declined to send this money and have laid out a robust defence as to why.
Cardiff City Explain Handling of Emiliano Sala Transfer Fee
The chairman of the Bluebirds, Mehmet Dalman, who entered into that position in July of 2013, spoke on the issue to a group of supporters during a Q&A session, which occurred last Friday night following Cardiff’s 1-1 Championship draw against Reading. He asked all the supporters in attendance to pass the message on to the Bluebirds fanbase, following his acceptance that the club may not have outlined their reasons well enough to the public until now.
Alongside launching the Emiliano Sala Memorial Fund to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Sala’s passing, Dalman spoke of the negative attitude of the London media and many football supporters in general with regard to the Sala transfer fee. Even some of Cardiff’s fans have said that the club should pay the £15 million to Nantes and finish business.
Dalman Says There’s More to it Than Meets the Eye
“It is really complicated, and I feel very strongly about it”, Dalman said during the Q&A. Yet, he also went ahead and said that while some fans may frequently ask why the team doesn’t just pay the money and be done with it, “if we don’t have to pay, why should we?”.
Dalman spoke of certain principles that need to be acted upon, and that even if Cardiff City had £15 million to spare and they were willing to throw it away, there would be no change in his stance on the matter. He even said that he’d flown to Nantes, asked them to split things down the middle so that they could each donate to the Sala Trust Fund, yet they turned him away and told him to return to London.
FIFA has involved itself in the matter, ordering the Bluebirds to pay Nantes the first instalment of the Sala fee – around £5.3 million. Cardiff are currently disputing that judgement though, proceeding with taking the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Will such issues affect the way that Cardiff City play on the pitch, though? The next game will see them go up against Reading in the FA Cup, and Dalman will no doubt be hoping that his team soar to victory. Fans of sports betting will also be looking forward to watching the match unfold, and if they’ve wagered on Cardiff winning, should they look to a pay-out? Well, there’s a Bwin bonus code that can be used so as to garner some extra funds for betting on the game – just in case you’d like to place some extra wagers on alternative matches.
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