CARDIFF CITY have been hit with a transfer embargo after failing to pay the first part of the £15million transfer fee for Emiliano Sala.
The Argentine striker died in a tragic plane crash in January 2019 as he flew to Britain after completing his record move.
The consequences of Emiliano Sala’s tragic transfer to Cardiff continueAFP
However, the fall-out resulted in the Bluebirds refusing to pay the first instalment to Sala’s previous club Nantes.
Cardiff lost an appeal and were ordered by Fifa to make the initial payment of £5.3m but the club continue to dispute the ruling.
Now, though, they have confirmed they are currently under an embargo and therefore unable to make any new signings.
Chairman Mehmet Dalman, though, is “confident” the punishment will be lifted before the January transfer window opens.
He told BBC Radio Wales Sport: “I wish I had the power to lift the shadow of this situation from the club.
“People at this club want this resolved.
“People should not forget that a 28-year old man was killed when he there was no need for that accident to happen.
“There is a human side to this story, it is not just a financial one.”
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Cardiff are currently in talks with the EFL and Fifa to find a solution while they wait for a Swiss Federal Court verdict to their Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal which is expected to be returned early in 2023.
Dalman’s club signed 17 new players in the summer transfer window – and yet sat just a point above the Championship relegation zone going into this weekend’s fixtures.
He added: “There are lots of legal discussions going on and they will continue to go on, but we have received our first invoice from Nantes.
“We haven’t paid it and at this stage have no intention of paying it, until certain negotiations come to fruition.
We haven’t paid and have no intention of paying
Mehmet Dalman
“This puts the EFL in a position where they automatically put us under a transfer embargo, but until January that is pretty meaningless anyway.
“Until January I am sure there will be other developments. We are working hard to ensure we can do business then.
“Should fans be worried we won’t be able to buy anyone in January? Yes and no.
“We certainly would like to add more players, the manager [Mark Hudson] is keen to do that and we’ve told him to plan accordingly because we believe this is temporary not permanent.
“But of course it is unpredictable.
“I don’t know Mark dreadfully well, but he’s a professional, he understood our position.
“He didn’t necessarily like it. But we have told him to get his targets in place.”