Agent reveals he asked for a different pilot for Sala's flight

The football agent who masterminded Emiliano Sala's move from Nantes to Cardiff has revealed that he asked a different pilot to fly the striker on the plane that went missing over the Channel.

The Argentinian striker's family are in Europe after raising funds to launch their own private search for the wreckage of the plane. They hope the agent's disclosure could be the first step towards finding out what happened to the 28-year-old player and pilot Dave Ibbotson.

However, in an interview with L'Equipe, agent Willie McKay, whose family organised the flight, has confirmed that he asked pilot David Henderson to fly Sala to Nantes and back for his first training session with Cardiff. Henderson was unavailable and he passed the job on to Ibbotson.

In the days after the aircraft disappeared, it emerged that Ibbotson had told a friend on Facebook that he was a 'bit rusty' with the control systems of the plane.

Ibbotson had only a private pilot's certificate, which is not sufficient to take paying passengers and a commercial licence demands more training and flying hours.

Cardiff had originally proposed paying for a commercial flight for Sala but McKay said: 'When you spend €17m on a footballer, you don't put him on an EasyJet flight.' The agent also described the experience since Sala went missing as a 'nightmare for all of us.'