Family of Emiliano Sala launch stinging attack on Cardiff City after revealing trust fund has still not been launched
Exclusive: The family also claimed Cardiff had withdrawn 'with no clear explanation' an earlier donation offer to the family last November
By
Ben Rumsby
20 August 2020 • 6:35pm
Fans outside the stadium in memory of Emiliano Sala to mark the one year anniversar
The family of Emiliano Sala launched a stinging attack on Cardiff City on Thursday night after revealing a £2 million trust fund the club launched in his memory had not been set up almost seven months on.
Sala’s mother, brother and sister accused the Championship side of trying to impose “leonine clauses” on the ‘Emiliano Sala Memorial Trust’ 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They also claimed Cardiff had withdrawn “with no clear explanation” an earlier offer of a “donation” to the family while they were in the UK in November.
City chairman Mehmet Dalman responded on Thursday night by saying he shared the family’s frustrations, blaming disagreements with their Argentinian lawyers for the impasse over the trust and announcing the club had decided to finish creating it independently of them.
Dalman had announced the long-awaited launch of a trust ahead of Cardiff’s Championship game against Reading, in which they also paid tribute to the £15 million striker, a year on from his tragic death in a plane crash.
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In a statement released to Telegraph Sport, Sala’s mother Mercedes Taffarel, and 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 we are in a very difficult economic situation and 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 At the time, we had the meeting with the representative of the club, we found that, surprisingly, the offer had been withdrawn with no clear explanation and we would not receive the donation Cardiff had promised.
“This was completely shocking for us as we did not understand why the club was acting in that way with us. We never received an explanation on the reasons why they decided to take the offer back and not fulfil their commitment to us.
“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 and contribute a certain amount of money.
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“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 extremely difficult to move forward as the club tries to impose leonine clauses and conditions on such donation.”
The family’s Argentinian lawyer, Javier Canosa, told Telegraph Sport that Cardiff were insisting upon controlling the trust, saying: “They have us by the b----.”
He also 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 extremely hard for many months to create a trust to support Emiliano’s family and his legacy. We share their frustrations.
“Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to do this jointly with the family’s lawyers due to a number of disagreements, particularly around control of the trust and the extent of the advice required.
“We have therefore decided to finish creating the trust without them, most of the work having already been done. The trust will be confirmed shortly and in addition to our investment, we will invite donations from across the footballing world. The family will then have the resources they need for the inquest.
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“The family has too often been forgotten through this tragedy, and too many personal interests have got in the way of providing them the support they deserve.”
