Cardiff City confident of winning £100m lawsuit as experts say Sala goals would have changed everything

Cardiff City expects to sue FC Nantes for almost £100m for their handling of Emiliano Sala’s sad departure.

Cardiff is suing the French side for loss of income and other damages caused by Sala’s death. A procedural hearing in Nantes Commercial Court today will determine the next steps.

The striker was sadly died five years ago when the plane taking him from Nantes to Wales to join the then Premier League club crashed in the Channel near Guernsey. The two clubs have been in legal dispute virtually since.

The transfer involves Willie McKay, an agent. At the Bournemouth Sala inquest, he was questioned about organizing the flight failure. Cardiff claims Nantes is accountable for Cardiff’s financial losses under French law because McKay worked for them.

Nantes claimed in November that McKay was not their agent in the Sala agreement to defend Cardiff’s action.

The Bluebirds crashed out of the Premier League later that season with a margin of only two points, and are making the case that Sala’s goals would have likely been enough to retain their status in the top level.

An analytics company has helped the club enhance their case, and with Sala playing, their survival prospects are 54–62%.

“Cardiff’s damage was estimated at 120.2 million euros” on Monday, according to the club’s lawyer, Céline Jones.

In a statement, Cardiff once again rejected the idea from Nantes that they were not accountable for the occurrence, adding they were sure of their case being successful.

“FC Nantes’ defence is untenable,” the club warned. “We are certain that the French court will declare FC Nantes accountable for the losses sustained by the club as a result of the unfortunate death of Emiliano Sala. CCFC continue to support Emiliano’s family.”

It’s understood Nantes have until September 23rd to respond to Monday’s filing.

Cardiff were preparing to take a second lawsuit against McKay himself, a move that was considered to be more about examining the footprint of any correspondence he may have had with Nantes than financial benefit.

An out-of-court arrangement was made with McKay back in February, although the contents of that agreement remain undisclosed.

A statement from McKay said: “Out of respect for the family of Emiliano Sala, I believed it was important to clarify that Cardiff City FC have reached an agreement with me regarding their lawsuit against Nantes FC.

“I have, throughout this process, submitted evidence to help the Dorset Coroner, Dorset Police, Civil Aviation Authority and the Air Accidents Investigation Board and, always acted openly and honestly during all the investigations into the unfortunate loss of Emiliano.

“My family and myself, have endured many baseless allegations and accusations, but we have always known that we were innocent of any wrongdoing. Throughout all the aforesaid investigations, we have been proven to be innocent of any misconduct of any type leading up to the horrible events on the 21 January 2019.”

Cardiff had also announced their willingness to sue insurance broker Miller Insurance Services LLP in the High Court for £10million, saying they failed to fully describe the process for instantly insuring new players.

However, that matter was also settled last September. Again, the facts of that agreement are similarly classified, although Cardiff are known to have secured a large sum of money from that settlement.