![Footballer Sala felt pressure over transfer before plane death, inquest hears](https://www.portugalcolonial.pt/media/shared/articles/cc/97/9a/Footballer-Sala-felt-pressure-over--244464.jpg)
-
'Windmill love' sees Dutch artist become mill operator
-
US defends law forcing sale of TikTok app
-
Messi out for defending champ Miami as Leagues Cup begins
-
Australia bans uranium mining at Indigenous site
-
Divers attempt to reach sunken Philippine oil tanker
-
Trump accuses Harris of anti-Semitism in overblown speech
-
Coughlin clings to lead at LPGA Canadian Women's Open
-
Trump offers tech sector policy flips ahead of election
-
Spacecraft to swing by Earth, Moon on path to Jupiter
-
What's the fallout of Mexican drug lords' capture?
-
Video game makers see actors as AI 'data,' says union on strike
-
Chinese qualifier Shang to face Thompson in ATP Atlanta semis
-
'Massive attack' on French rail threatens more chaos
-
'We did it!': France breathes sigh of relief after Olympics ceremony
-
Regional concern grows as Venezuela blocks vote observers
-
Historic river parade, Dion show-stopper ignite Paris Olympics
-
Rainy Paris Olympic parade dampens many spectators' spirits
-
The one of a kind Paris opening ceremony: five memorable moments
-
Justin Timberlake seeks to dismiss DUI case
-
Warner Brothers Discovery sues NBA over Amazon rights deal
-
Kobe Bryant locker, Maradona jersey up for auction in New York
-
Historic river parade launches Paris Olympics
-
New York family of Holocaust victim reclaims Nazi-looted art
-
NASA Mars rover captures rock that could hold fossilized microbes
-
Thousands evacuate season's biggest wildfire in northern California
-
Ethiopia mourns victims of landslide tragedy
-
Lady Gaga adds sparkle to star-studded Olympic show
-
Airbus and Boeing supremacy secure despite turbulence
-
Teams sail down Seine in rain-soaked Olympics opening ceremony
-
West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third Test
-
Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine
-
Mott's England future uncertain as ECB chief fails to offer support
-
Trump meets Israeli PM Netanyahu in Florida
-
S.African police say 95 Libyans detained at suspected military camp
-
Blinken set for talks with Chinese counterpart in Laos
-
Norris heads Piastri in McLaren one-two at Belgian GP practice
-
G20 seeks common ground on taxing super-rich
-
European medicines watchdog rejects new Alzheimer's drug
-
Habib, Ebden eye Alcaraz and Djokovic shocks at Olympics tennis
-
Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris opening ceremony
-
Two Sinaloa Cartel leaders face US charges after stunning capture
-
Spain train driver jailed for 2.5 years over deadly 2013 crash
-
Paris poised for Olympic opening ceremony spectacular
-
Judoka fails doping test in first case at Paris Olympics
-
Holder and Da Silva keep England at bay after West Indies collapse
-
Alpine F1 boss Bruno Famin to leave in August
-
Ethiopia declares three days of mourning after landslide tragedy
-
Brazilian dunes dotted with dazzling pools make UNESCO heritage list
-
Rain, cooling slow huge blaze in Canada's Jasper park
-
French Rugby's Jaminet suspended 34 weeks after racist video: Federation
![Footballer Sala felt pressure over transfer before plane death, inquest hears](https://www.portugalcolonial.pt/media/shared/articles/cc/97/9a/Footballer-Sala-felt-pressure-over--244464.jpg)
Footballer Sala felt pressure over transfer before plane death, inquest hears
Emiliano Sala felt under "a lot of pressure" to complete a transfer to the Premier League shortly before he died in a plane crash as he headed to his new club, an inquest heard on Tuesday.
The Argentina-born striker was joining Cardiff, then in the English top-flight, in a £15 million ($20 million) switch from French Ligue 1 side Nantes.
Dorset Coroner's Court, in southern England, heard that the 28-year-old was on board a private plane flying from Nantes to the Welsh capital on the evening of January 21, 2019 when it crashed in the English Channel, close to Guernsey.
Pilot David Ibbotson, 59, was also killed but his body has never been found.
On the first day of an inquest into the footballer's death, Sala's mother, Mercedes Taffarel, told the court in a written statement that her son was happy when he "eventually accepted the idea of a move".
"He felt it was the right time to move clubs and to another league," she said.
"It seemed to him that the Nantes management was also pushing his exit from the club because they were going through some financial problems."
- 'Intense weeks' -
She said the weeks leading up to his death, in December 2018 and January 2019, "seemed very intense".
"Cardiff put on a lot of pressure on him to complete the sale quickly but Nantes asked for more money and Emi felt in the middle of the dispute," Taffarel added.
"Emi was in some doubt to go ahead with the move. Finally, the sale was agreed, not because of his performances as a player at Nantes, which were very good, but because Nantes needed the money."
Taffarel said she spoke to her son regularly and, when she did not hear from him on the day of the flight, she assumed he had gone to bed early after arriving in Wales.
The following day she learned that the plane carrying her son was missing.
Eventually her family organised their own sea search and the plane was located with Sala's body inside.
She said: "No-one can bring Emi back to us, but we ask for justice so that Emi can rest in peace and give us a little bit of peace of mind knowing that we did everything we could so similar deaths are prevented in the future.
"Our pain will never go away and we carry it with us all the time. All we ask for is justice and we want no stone unturned to find out what happened."
David Henderson, the businessman who organised the flight that crashed in the Channel, was jailed in November for 18 months for flouting safety rules.
The inquest into Sala's death is due to last about five weeks.
F.Ferraz--PC