SIGNED HIS LIFE AWAY
Emiliano Sala footie agent says he would ‘still be among us’ if he hadn’t sealed £15m deal – as leaked email reveals he told striker ‘if you don’t go, you’ll regret it’
FOOTIE agent Willie McKay has told how he encouraged Emiliano Sala to take the doomed flight that went missing over the English Channel as he said "when you spend €17m euros on a footballer, you don't put him on an EasyJet plane".
McKay told the Argentinian striker "if you don't go to the Premier League now, you will regret it" ahead of his move from Nantes to Cardiff City.
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The Piper PA-46 Malibu in which Sala and pilot David Ibbotson, 59, were travelling disappeared off the radar on January 21.
Two cushions, believed to be from the crashed plane, were found on a beach in Surtainville in Normandy yesterday.
In an email, leaked to Paris sports paper L'Équipe, McKay told the footballer: "We have talked about you with everyone, including Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.
"We think you are able to end up in one of those clubs. We have so far received only an offer from Cardiff.
If you do not go for the Premier League now, you will regret it
Willie McKay to Emiliano Sala
"My experience says 'if you do not go for the Premier League now, you will regret it'".
McKay, who brokered deals for stars such as Dimitri Payet, added: "We are not preventing you from working with another agent, but most players are very satisfied with [us].
"We do not say 'we are like a father to a son to our players'. No, if you had not been a footballer, these people would not be interested in you.
"In the end they are only interested in the money. What we all want a lot of, of course. That's why we like to work with just the clubs. No sentiment...we’re just doing business."
No sentiment...we’re just doing business
Football agent Willie McKay
Earlier today it was revealed how the agent's chosen pilot subbed the job to a "rusty" pal.
McKay expected experienced Davis Henderson, 60, to take the £15 million signing for a last hurrah with his old team mates in France.
But the mega-agent said Mr Henderson handed the task to Mr Ibbotson after asking: "Do you want to spend a weekend in Nantes?"
The pair later exchanged social media messages in which the stand-in confessed to being "a bit rusty" with the landing system on the Piper PA-46 Malibu.
Mr McKay said Mr Henderson used his credit card to pay landing fees and the hotel in Nantes for 'money-troubled' gas fitter and part-time pilot Mr Ibbotson - leading to initial confusion over who was at the controls.
He confessed since the pair went missing off Alderney in the Channel Islands 12 days ago it had been "an absolute nightmare for us".
One of McKay's sons, Mark, was the agent acting for Nantes in the £15m transfer that made Sala Cardiff's record signing earlier in January.
McKay claims his son is still owed €1.7m from the deal.
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Mr McKay added that Sala would "still be with us" if he had not allowed him to say goodbye to Nantes team mates and put his dog Nala in Kennels.
An investigation is underway into whether dad-of-three Mr Ibbotson was qualified to take commercial passengers in the American-registered Piper.
The UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch will resume the hunt this weekend. It has reduced the initial 1,700 square mile search area to just four.
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Final haunting audio message sent by Emiliano Sala during flight reveals he was 'scared' moments before aircraft lost contact
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