Cardiff chairman seeks £120m over Emiliano Sala’s death
Mehmet Dalman claims French side Nantes were to blame for the way their trip to Wales was organised
Emiliano Sala died more than six years ago in a plane crash as he was preparing to leave Ligue 1 side Nantes for Premier League side Cardiff . In April, representatives from both clubs met in court in a dispute that has been ongoing ever since. The Welsh club is claiming losses of around €120 million for not having received the “second best striker in the French league”, as explained by Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman , who blames the French club for the poor travel conditions to the French side RMC.
“This tragic event happened more than half a decade ago and there are lessons to be learned. If football is to grow, regulation is necessary. If this had been done correctly, this tragedy that took two lives would not have happened. Why did we use banned agents, unauthorized private flights? Where is the protection for the player who was at the mercy of the intermediary? I think it is a lost opportunity. That is why I insist so strongly on this case,” began Dalman, who explained what he is seeking from Nantes : “I think the total costs will be 120 million euros, so that is what we are asking for in compensation.”
Of this amount, €53 million is related to Cardiff ‘s relegation from the Premier League , having been relegated by two points. “It’s not a figure you can just throw around. It was calculated,” the Welsh club’s chairman continued. “If we hadn’t been relegated, we wouldn’t have faced the financial problems we had. It was an internal calculation made by Cardiff ‘s finance director . Every year, staying in the Premier League is worth around €110-120 million. That figure no longer exists when we were relegated by two points. We brought in a striker who was the second best in France [he scored 12 goals in 19 Ligue 1 games] games ], so we were just a small effort away from staying up. We asked an independent company to analyse the chances of relegation with and without Emiliano Sala, so it’s a realistic figure,” he explained.
Despite having “no relationship with the family”, Mehmet Dalman guarantees that he gets along well with the legal team, but is critical of the other players in the world of football. “We created a fund in Sala’s name at the family’s request. We asked everyone to contribute, but so far no one has done so, except us, who gave what I believe to be a significant amount. It leaves me disappointed and upset, to be honest”, explains the director, who also claims that he has never had any contact with Waldemar Kita, president of Nantes. . Asked what he hopes to obtain, Dalman concluded: “120 million… but if you ask me what I really want, it’s justice. Let’s forget the numbers for a second, let’s look at what happened and how it happened. It was an unnecessary, avoidable death. We don’t want this to happen again.”
Emiliano Sala died on January 21, 2019, in a plane crash while flying over the English Channel. His body was only found two weeks after the search began.
