Agent claims Emiliano Sala was "abandoned" by Cardiff City before plane crash

A football agent who organised the flight in which football player Emiliano Sala was killed had no knowledge of any issues with the plane or the pilot, an inquest has heard.

The Argentina-born striker died alongside pilot David Ibbotson, 59, when the Piper Malibu aircraft crashed into the English Channel close to Alderney on January 21 2019.

The 28-year-old had been flying to Wales from France to join Premier League club Cardiff City in a £15 million transfer from Ligue 1 side Nantes.

At an inquest at Bournemouth Coroner's Court, Willie McKay said he had personally arranged the private flights from Cardiff to Nantes and back again.

He said after a medical examination in Cardiff, Mr Sala had been keen to return to Nantes to say goodbye to his teammates and collect his belongings.

Mr McKay's son Mark, also a football agent, acted on behalf of Nantes during the deal.

Giving evidence, Mr McKay said he felt the Argentinian had been "abandoned" by Cardiff City after the signing.

He said Mr Sala had only received a WhatsApp message from a representative of Cardiff City offering to organise a commercial flight from the Welsh capital to Paris.

"It wasn't really any use to Emi because he lived in Nantes and it is more than five hours away (from Paris)," Mr McKay said.

"I only tried to help him to get over to Nantes to say his goodbyes to his teammates, I felt as if Cardiff City failed him."

Mr McKay said he had called a number of companies, including pilot David Henderson who had regularly flown him across Europe to matches.

"He said he couldn't do it himself but he would try to get someone else to do it," he said.

"I was doing my very, very best to try and get Emi home."

Mr McKay was read evidence from Mr Henderson claiming he had been "very insistent" about getting a pilot to take Mr Sala to Nantes.

Coroner Rachael Griffin asked: "Were you insistent?"

Mr McKay replied: "Emi wanted help so I tried to do something, I did my best.

"If it was my son I'd like to think that someone would try to help him if he was in that position."

The court heard it cost £365 per hour to hire the plane, and it would have spent the weekend waiting in Nantes for Mr Sala.

Mr McKay said his son's company had already spent £100,000 flying people to and from Nantes to broker the deal, and had earned a large fee from the transfer.

"If you consider the transfer, the commission was 10%, in the context of that transfer it wasn't really a lot," he said.

The court heard there had been 23 calls between Mr McKay and David Henderson on the day it took off from Nantes.

The coroner asked: "Did David Henderson talk to you about the condition of the plane, did he indicate at any point that there was an engineer looking at the plane?

"What are all those calls and messages?"

Mr McKay said he could not recall but believed they might have been about paying for Mr Ibbotson's accommodation in Nantes.

He said he had never asked about the plane itself or the pilot.

Ms Griffin said: "On the basis he was such great value to you and your family, why didn't you check who the pilot was or the state of the aircraft?"

Mr McKay replied: "I have used David Henderson for 14 years, when you organise a taxi do you ask the taxi driver 'are you insured, do you have a licence?'"

Ms Griffin said: "With the greatest respect, driving a taxi is very different to flying an aircraft."

The inquest has previously heard Mr Sala was overcome by toxic levels of carbon monoxide poisoning prior to dying from severe head and chest injuries consistent with a plane crash.

On Wednesday, the jury were told that Mr Ibbotson had been barred from flying the Piper Malibu by its owner, after receiving two notices of airspace infringements from the CAA.

He had continued to fly the plane without her knowledge.

The inquest is due to last around a month.