Cardiff Wants "Direct Talks" With Nantes Over Sala Transfer Fee

EPL side Cardiff City is "seeking direct talks" with Ligue 1 side Nantes in an effort to solve the dispute over the $20M transfer fee for striker Emiliano Sala, who died in a plane crash in January. FIFA has granted the clubs until April 15 to "settle the row." Cardiff refused to make the first scheduled payment for the Argentine. The EPL club said that Nantes has not responded to its request, sent last week, to "meet over the issue." Nantes insisted it "completed all the necessary paperwork and had been fully compliant" with FIFA's rules (BBC, 4/3). A truce between the two clubs would "end the threat" of FIFA ruling against one of them. Were Nantes to "snub" a meeting, Cardiff would reportedly tell FIFA the deal it struck to buy Sala became "null and void" after he died (London TELEGRAPH, 4/2).