Cardiff to pay £15 million Sala fee to Nantes 'if contractually obliged'

PARIS, Feb 13 (AFP): Cardiff City chairperson Mehmet Dalman said on Tuesday the club will pay the fee for striker Emiliano Sala if they are contractually required to do so.

Sala had signed for the Premier League side and was flying to his new team from his old club Nantes in France when his plane went missing over the Channel on January 21. The wreckage was located on the seabed. Sala's body was recovered but pilot David Ibbotson is still missing. The aircraft remains under the sea.

"If we are contractually obliged to pay them then of course we will. We are an honourable club," Dalman told the BBC.

"But if we are not - and there are some anomalies in that - then surely you would expect me as the chairperson and guardian of this club's interests to look into that and hold our position. That is what we are doing," he added.

Dalman said the French club had requested the money from the £15 million transfer but the Bluebirds were yet to formally react.