By Daily Sports on January 27, 2019

Football agent Willie McKay says he arranged the flight that missing Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala took from Nantes, but was not involved in selecting the plane or pilot.

The search for Argentine Sala, 28, and 59-year-old pilot David Ibbotson was called off on Thursday.

Their plane disappeared from radar as they flew over the English Channel on their way to Cardiff on Monday night.

McKay has revealed text messages with Sala discussing flight arrangements.

One of McKay’s sons, Mark, was the agent acting for Nantes in the £15m transfer that made Sala Cardiff’s record signing earlier in January.

McKay told the BBC he had arranged the flight through David Henderson – an experienced pilot who had flown him and many of his players “all over Europe on countless occasions”.

It is not known how the job of flying Sala ended up being passed to Ibbotson.

The Civil Aviation Authority is to examine whether Ibbotson was operating with a private or commercial licence.

Henderson has not so far commented on what happened.

In the text exchange released to the BBC by McKay, his other son, Jack – who is a Cardiff player – offers to arrange the private flight for free so Sala could return to Nantes to pick up his belongings and say goodbye to former team-mates at the Ligue 1 club.

McKay said both Mark and Jack had a conversation with Sala about the difficulties of flying to the French city by commercial airline.

He also says a Cardiff player liaison official knew of the arrangements that were made. The BBC has approached the Premier League club for comment.

“With regards to the booking of the flight we contacted Mr David Henderson, who has flown us and many of our players all over Europe on countless occasions,” McKay said.

In a 2015 interview with the BBC, Mr Henderson spoke about his life as an experienced light aircraft pilot.

McKay added: “We had no involvement in selecting a plane or a pilot and we also wish to make clear again we do not own the plane that Emiliano flew on.”

The Times newspaper has apologised to McKay for incorrectly stating that he owned the plane.

The agent also said he has met Sala’s friends and family to “give them an understanding of how Emiliano came to be on that plane”.

“The tragic events that have unfolded have shocked us all,” he added. (BBC)

•Photo shows Emiliano Sala 

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 27, 2019

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