Cardiff City settle with agent over Emiliano Sala transfer
Cardiff City has reached an out-of-court settlement with the agent Willie McKay in its pursuit of discovering the truth about Emiliano Sala’s death.
Sala died on 21 January 2019 when the light aircraft he travelled in from France crashed into the Channel, two days after Cardiff had announced the signing of the Argentinian footballer from Nantes.
Fifa ordered Cardiff to pay the £15m transfer fee despite the Sky Bet Championship club’s insistence that Nantes must be held accountable for the accident that led to Sala’s death, saying the flight had been organised by the French club’s agent.
Last year a negligence claim was logged by Cardiff in the French courts against Nantes and Thursday was to be day one of a separate court hearing into McKay’s involvement in the transfer, but an agreement between the agent and City has now been reached.
Cardiff’s lawyers, Capital Law, said: “Our litigation in France against Nantes is ongoing and a number of people are helping us with our search for the truth about the death of Emiliano Sala. Our case against their agent was part of that process.”
McKay said in a statement to Sky Sports: “Out of respect for the family of Emiliano Sala, I felt it was necessary to confirm that Cardiff have reached an agreement with me regarding their claim against Nantes.
“I have, throughout this process, provided evidence to assist the Dorset coroner, Dorset police, Civil Aviation Authority and the Air Accidents Investigation [Branch] and, always acted openly and honestly during all the investigations into the tragic death of Emiliano.
“My family and myself, have endured endless unfounded allegations and accusations, but we have always known that we were innocent of any wrongdoing.
“Throughout all the above investigations, we have been found to be innocent of any wrongdoing of any kind leading up to the awful events on 21 January 2019.”
The terms of the out-of-court settlement are understood to be confidential, but are reported to relate to the release of documents and messages about Sala’s Sala.