Sunderland's Championship rivals start '£104m' legal proceedings five years after tragedy

Sunderland’s Championship rivals Cardiff City have started legal proceedings against French club Nantes.

Cardiff City filed a complaint in a French court on Monday against Nantes with the Welsh outfit claiming losses of more than £100m following a dispute over the tragic death of Emiliano Sala in a plane crash in January 2019.

After an “in-depth analysis" by a legal expert, the Welsh club's lawyer Celine Jones said a figure of 120.2million euros (£104million) was estimated. Nantes have until 23 September to respond with Jones saying that the analysis has been filed at the Nantes Commercial Court in western France.

"We'll take the time to study these new voluminous documents and these figures," said lawyers Jerome Marsaudon and Louis-Marie Absil, who are both representing Nantes.

Sala, who was 28 years old at the time of his death, and pilot David Ibbotson died in a plane crash on 21 January 2019. The Argentinian striker was travelling to south Wales from France to complete a £15million transfer to Cardiff City, then a Premier League club, from Nantes.

The Swiss Federal Tribunal decided the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) did not have jurisdiction to deal with Cardiff City’s claim for damages. meaning the Welsh club have chosen to go down another route.

Lawyer Jones said during a hearing last year: "If Sala had been able to play, he would inevitably have scored goals between January and June 2019 and Cardiff would have remained in the Premier League. It would be unrealistic to think that he would not have scored any goals.”