Sala’s family hit out at Cardiff over trust delay

The family of Emiliano Sala criticised Cardiff City last night after revealing that a £2 million trust fund the club launched in the player’s memory had not been set up almost seven months on.

Sala’s mother, brother and sister accused the club of trying to impose “leonine clauses” on the Emiliano Sala Memorial Trust, which it was announced in January had been jointly created by both parties.

They also claimed Cardiff had withdrawn “with no clear explanation” an earlier offer of a “donation” to the family while they were in the UK in November.

Mehmet Dalman, the Cariff chairman, responded last night by saying he shared the family’s frustrations, blaming disagreements with their Argentine lawyers for the impasse over the trust and saying the club had decided to finish creating it independently of them.

Dalman had announced the launch of a trust ahead of Cardiff ’s game against Reading in January, in which they also paid tribute to the £15million striker, a year on from his death in a plane crash.

In a statement released to The

Daily Telegraph, Sala’s mother Mercedes Taffarel, his brother Dario and sister Romina said: “In 2019, Cardiff offered to make a donation to our family, which was very welcome by us as Emiliano was the main supporter of our family.

“With a great personal effort, in November 2019 we travelled to the UK in order to close the deal with Cardiff to receive the funds as soon as possible. At the time, we had the meeting with the representative of the club, we found that, surprisingly, the offer had been withdrawn with no clear explanation.

“This was completely shocking for us as we did not understand why the club was acting in that way. We came back to our country and, in January 2020, we received an offer from Cardiff to set up the trust for the benefit of the family.

“It has been almost six months since those initial discussions and, to date, we have not been able to reach an agreement with Cardiff ’s representatives to set up the trust. It is difficult to move forward as the club tries to impose leonine clauses and conditions on such donation.”

Javier Canosa, the family’s Argentine lawyer, told The Telegraph that Cardiff were insisting upon controlling the trust, saying: “They have us by the balls.” He said the family could no longer afford to pay the UK lawyers representing them at Sala’s inquest, the start of which has been delayed until March.

Dalman said: “We have been working hard to create a trust to support Emiliano’s family and his legacy. We share their frustrations. The trust will be confirmed shortly and, in addition to our investment, we will invite donations from across the footballing world.”

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