AUDIO / Transfer: The Emiliano Sala Story - BBC Wales
- Kayley Thomas, Jenny Johnson, Lorraine Walsh, Cathy Robinson (UK)
A 9-part podcast series looking at how the opaque worlds of football transfers and illegal charter flights collided on 21st January 2019 with fatal consequences. It contains moving testimony from Emiliano's family & friends and Episode 3 hears the player himself say how unhappy he was with the move from FC Nantes to Cardiff City. The episode also lays bare the tactics used by agents to get players to sign. The series details the reaction of Nantes and Cardiff fans to the crash and looks at the protracted legal dispute between the clubs over whose player he was at the time he died. Listeners hear never before heard audio from pilot David Ibbotson describing the plane as "dodgy", detailing faults with the plane whilst flying Emiliano back to Nantes and saying he'd be wearing his "lifejacket" on the fatal flight. Emiliano was treated like a commodity - even after his death - and the podcast is a wake-up call to reframe how we think about footballers.