Cardiff boss Warnock hits back at links to Sala intermediary

Neil Warnock claims he is the victim of a 'vendetta' over links to the intermediary involved in the deal to bring Emiliano Sala to Cardiff last month.

Warnock says he had little choice but to use Willie McKay's help in signing the Argentine from Nantes for £15m in January.

Sala's body was recovered from a plane wreckage in the English Channel this week, after it crashed into the sea on the way from Nantes to Cardiff on January 21.

McKay helped organise the doomed flight and was involved in the transfer that brought Sala to the Premier League club.

Warnock admitted to The Telegraph, 'It's been bad, really bad behind the scenes.'

And he moved to distance himself from links to McKay: 'It's suggested I am big pals with Willie McKay. Am I? I don't think I am. He is an agent. You need these agents if you want to do a deal.'

The 70-year-old revealed that access to McKay was fundamental in sealing the deal.

'Ask anyone in the game, if you want a player from France or a French player, 99 per cent of the time you will have to deal with Willie McKay or someone like him', he said.

'If you want to get the job done, then you need the Willie McKays of this world.

'Someone suggested that if I went to Sala's funeral that Willie McKay would be standing alongside me. That was just distasteful.

'There has been a vendetta in some quarters, of that I am sure, and our chairman has told me he doesn't want me to reply to them as it would destabilise the club.