Emiliano Sala was put under pressure before plane crash death, inquest hears

The footballer Emiliano Sala was put under pressure to complete his multimillion-pound transfer to the Premier League before he died in a plane crash as he headed to his new club, an inquest jury has been told.

Sala’s mother, Mercedes Taffarel, said the weeks before the private plane he was in crashed into the Channel as he travelled from Nantes in France to join Cardiff City seemed “very intense”.

“Cardiff put on a lot of pressure on him to complete the sale quickly, but Nantes asked for more money and Emi felt in the middle of the dispute,” she said. “Emi was in some doubt to go ahead with the move. Finally, the sale was agreed, not because of his performances as a player at Nantes, which were very good, but because Nantes needed the money.”

The Argentina-born striker was joining the then Premier League club from the French Ligue 1 side Nantes in a £15m deal.

Dorset coroner’s court heard that the 28-year-old died when the plane crashed close to Guernsey on 21 January 2019. The body of the pilot, David Ibbotson, has never been found.

On the first day of the inquest, Sala’s mother told the court that her son’s dream since childhood in Argentina had been to become a professional footballer. When she first took him to play, the family could not afford to buy him football boots so he trained in trainers, but he loved the game and thrived.

In a written statement, Taffarel said his goalscoring exploits in France led to calls for him to be called up to Argentina’s national team.

“He appreciated the Nantes club and the fans very much,” she said. “An offer came in from Cardiff City in December 2018. It is true to say that Emi was very happy when he eventually accepted the idea of the move as he had the chance to play in the