Emiliano Sala

Emiliano Raúl Sala Taffarel (Spanish pronunciation: [emiˈljano ˈsala]; 31 October 1990 – 21 January 2019) was an Argentine professional footballer who played as a striker.

After playing youth football in Argentina and following a short spell in Portugal's regional leagues, Sala began his professional career in France with Bordeaux, making his professional debut in February 2012. After struggling to break into the first team, he was loaned out to Championnat National side Orléans and Ligue 2 side Niort in consecutive seasons. He enjoyed prolific spells with both clubs, scoring 39 goals between them, before returning to Bordeaux. After initially being promised an increased role after his successful loans, Sala fell out of favour again, and instead, joined fellow Ligue 1 side Caen on loan.

In 2015, he signed for Nantes on a permanent basis. With Nantes, he made more than 100 appearances in Ligue 1, and achieved a successful goalscoring record, finishing as the club's top goalscorer for three consecutive seasons. His form prompted a move to Cardiff City in January 2019, for a club record fee of £15 million (€18 million).

Sala was killed in a plane crash off Alderney on 21 January 2019. He was a passenger aboard a Piper Malibu light aircraft flying from Nantes to Cardiff. An initial three-day search that covered 4,400 square kilometres (1,700 sq mi) across the English Channel failed to locate the crash site. Two subsequent private searches were launched, resulting in the discovery of the wreckage on 3 February 2019; Sala's body was recovered four days later.

Early and personal life

Emiliano Raúl Sala Taffarel was born in the town of Cululú, Santa Fe Province. He was born prematurely, with concerns that the respiratory issues might prevent him from being able to run. He held an Italian passport.

His father worked as a truck driver, and the family later moved to Progreso, where Sala was raised. He was a fan of Independiente, and, growing up, studied footage of his favourite footballer, Argentine international Gabriel Batistuta. Sala's parents were separated at the time of his death, and his father died of a heart attack on 26 April 2019, three months later. Sala is survived by his mother and two younger siblings, sister Romina and brother Dario.

He is described as having been "far removed from the typical image of a star footballer." In France, he settled in Carquefou, a small town outside of Nantes, and would spend his free time with friends made there or walking his rescue dog, Nala. A local fan recalled that Sala went around town to personally say goodbye to everyone when he was set to transfer to Cardiff. Having had a close relationship with his family and Argentine friends, in his hometown of Progreso, he continues to be affectionately known as "el Emi"; matching murals of him were commissioned from the same artist in Progreso and Carquefou.

Career

Early career

Sala began playing football for San Martín de Progreso, where he remained until he was 15 years old. He then moved to San Francisco, Córdoba to play at football school Proyecto Crecer after being spotted by a scout. The club was directly affiliated with Spanish club RCD Mallorca and French side FC Girondins de Bordeaux, scouting local players in the area. After joining the club, he moved into a boarding house with other players from the club's youth system. He played six Preferente matches for Spanish club CD Soledad B between October 2007 and February 2008.

In 2009, while living in Granada, Spain, he was recommended to Portuguese District side FC Crato by a fellow Argentinian footballer who played there and joined the Portuguese team. Sala played one official match for Crato, scoring twice, but suddenly decided to leave the club and return to Argentina, saying that his girlfriend was "in trouble" in his homeland.

Bordeaux

At the age of 20, during the 2010–11 season, Sala moved to Europe to sign for Bordeaux, the French partner club from Proyecto Crecer. After arriving in France, Sala briefly lived with the club's youth coach Marcelo Vada and his son, Sala's teammate, Valentín Vada, who were from the same region of Argentina.

Having progressed through the club's reserve team, Sala grew frustrated with his lack of first-team playing time, and his agent offered him to several Italian clubs, including Sorrento, but this was rejected in each case. On 8 February 2012, Sala made his Bordeaux senior competitive debut in the 2011–12 Coupe de France round of 16 3–1 away defeat against Olympique Lyonnais, coming on as a substitute in the 105th minute for Jussiê.

Unable to establish himself in the first team, Bordeaux hoped to loan Sala out in order to gain experience and he was expected to sign for a team in Spain before his agent rejected the move, wanting Sala to remain in France. He instead joined Championnat National side US Orléans on loan after being spotted by manager Oliver Frapolli a year previously. Frapolli described Sala as "the best player on the team, without question", as he went on to score nineteen goals for the club in 37 appearances. He helped the club to an eighth-place finish in the Championnat National.

On 2 July 2013, Sala agreed a deal to join Ligue 2 club Chamois Niortais on loan for the entire 2013–14 season. He enjoyed a steady return through the first half of the season before finding form in March, scoring eleven goals in his final twelve appearances including scoring his first career hat-trick in a 4–2 victory over Stade Lavallois. He finished the season with 20 goals in all competitions, with his total of 18 league goals setting a new club record for goals in a single season.

At the start of the 2014–15 season, Sala was brought into the first team squad with Bordeaux by manager Willy Sagnol and was rewarded with a two-year extension to his contract. He scored his first senior goal for the club after converting a penalty during a 4–1 defeat to Monaco. However, it proved to be his only goal in eleven appearances, and he was loaned to SM Caen, another Ligue 1 club, for the second half of the 2014–15 season as a replacement for Mathieu Duhamel. Caen had previously tried to sign Sala at the start of the season but had been rejected by Bordeaux. He made his debut for Caen on 1 February 2015 in a 1–0 victory over Saint-Étienne. He scored his first goal for the club in his third appearance, during a 2–2 draw with Paris Saint-Germain two weeks later, and scored a brace against RC Lens in his following match. He scored five goals for Caen during his loan spell before returning to Bordeaux.

Nantes

On 20 July 2015, Sala joined Ligue 1 club Nantes on a five-year contract with Nantes paying a reported transfer fee of €1 million to Bordeaux. He made his debut for Nantes on the opening day of the 2015–16 season, during a 1–0 victory over Guingamp, and scored his first goal for the club on 5 December 2015 in a 1–1 draw with Ajaccio. In January 2016, Nantes rejected a bid of £3 million from Wolverhampton Wanderers for Sala. In his first season, despite scoring only six times, he finished the year as the club's top goalscorer.

During his second season, Sala scored twelve league goals for Nantes, the highest scoring player in a single season for the club since Olivier Monterrubio in 2000–01. He equaled his tally again in the 2017–18 season, finishing as Nantes' top scorer for the third consecutive season since his arrival at the club.

At the start of the 2018–19 season, Sala fell out of favour under new manager Miguel Cardoso who preferred Kalifa Coulibaly as the club's first choice striker. Turkish side Galatasaray made a late bid to sign Sala on the last day of the summer transfer window but the move later collapsed. Sala twice made goalscoring appearances as a substitute and was restored to the starting line up under Cardoso before the manager was sacked in October 2018. Vahid Halilhodžić was appointed as the club's new manager and in his first match in charge, on 20 October 2018, Sala scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 Ligue 1 home win over Toulouse. He thus became the first FC Nantes player to score three goals in a Ligue 1 match since Mamadou Diallo did so against FC Sochaux-Montbéliard in February 2006. At the end of October, he was voted Ligue 1 Player of the Month having scored four goals in three matches during the month.

Sala's good form saw him as the joint-highest goalscorer in Ligue 1 at the start of December, his tally of twelve goals tied with Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappé. On 5 December, Sala scored his last goal for the club in a 3–2 Ligue 1 home victory over Olympique de Marseille. On 16 January 2019, he played his final match for the club in a 1–0 Ligue 1 away defeat against Nîmes Olympique.

In 2021, it was announced that a pre-season tournament would be held in July in Sala's honour, with Nantes, Bordeaux, Caen and Niort invited to play by former Orléans goalkeeper and ex-teammate of Sala, Thomas Renault.