Thursday 24 January 2019 09:28, UK
Cardiff City chairman Mehmet Dalman has confirmed that Emiliano Sala declined the club’s offer to arrange his travel to and from France.
Dalman has been attempting to piece together the timeline of events that led up to Sala's plane going missing over the English Channel after the newly-signed Cardiff striker had returned to Nantes to bid farewell to his former team-mates.
"We have looked into this quite thoroughly and it is quite evident that Cardiff has the responsibility to offer the player to make arrangements [for travel], which will be commercial flights," Dalman told Sky Sports News.
"That would have meant taking the train from Nantes to Paris, then Paris to Heathrow, then drive down [to Cardiff].
"The player's reaction to that was that he wanted to make his own arrangements which would be much quicker."
Dalman also praised the reaction of fans and clubs around the world who have offered their thoughts and prayers since the news broke of the missing plane.
"It has been a couple of difficult days but I have to say, the family of football has been really supportive, not only within Cardiff Football Club but around the world," added Dalman.
"We are very grateful for the support we have received.
"It is just tragic. We continue to hope and pray but you also have to be realistic and it doesn't look good at this moment."
