New video 'shows Emiliano Sala signing for Cardiff City' three days before tragic striker died in plane crash in English Channel - with CAS set to rule on £15m transfer row with Nantes

• Nantes demands for a £15m transfer fee have gone to sport's highest court
• FIFA have ruled that Cardiff must pay or face a three-window transfer embargo
• Cardiff's appeal against decision has gone to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
• Welsh club claim transfer was invalid as Premier League rejected the paperwork

A previously unseen video of Emiliano Sala signing three Cardiff City forms could lend support to French club Nantes, whose demands for a £15million transfer fee have gone to sport's highest court.

The footage, obtained by Sportsmail, shows the player being presented with the forms in quick succession and signing each of them, three days before he died when a plane carrying him to Cardiff crashed.

FIFA have already ruled that Cardiff must pay in full for the player or face a three-window transfer embargo. Cardiff's appeal against the decision has gone to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Cardiff's case includes a claim that the transfer was invalid because the Premier League had rejected the paperwork, on grounds that the signing-on fee was not spread equally across the three years of the Argentine's contract — a breach of rules.

But FIFA insisted that it was always Cardiff's intention to sign Sala, declaring it was the club's own fault that the process had not been completed by the time of his death.

A source close to the deal told Sportsmail on Wednesday night: 'It is somehow being suggested that the deal was not done but the footage shows how keen Cardiff were to do it — placing form after form in front of him and getting the deal done with some urgency.'

The timing of the footage reveals Sala signed for Cardiff at 6.21pm on Friday, January 18 last year, hours after the team he was joining had left for Newcastle, where they lost 3-0.

The source said: 'All of the staff had set off for an away game at Newcastle, but still there was determination to get things done and dusted. That's why there is hardly anyone present. In every possible sense, this was a completed transfer.'

The forms are placed before Sala by Scott Dommett, an FA of Wales player registrations manager, who urges him several times to 'sign there'. 

The FAW said that Dommett had become a Cardiff employee at the time of the signing and still was. A phone in front of Sala as he signed is thought to have linked him up, via Facebook, to Meissa Ndiaye, one of his agents, who was advising him.

The following day, the 28-year-old flew to France to sort out his affairs and say his goodbyes in Nantes, returning on a woefully sub-standard aircraft which crashed. Though CAS have acknowledged that the Covid-19 crisis delayed their deliberations, an outcome is expected soon.

Cardiff's case centres on their assertion that the paperwork was not completed. 

A club spokesman said: 'When the papers went up to the Premier League, they were rejected. There was a review of payment terms, which broke Premier League rules.

'The documents were being re-drafted while Emiliano was in the air. He would have needed to see them before signing.'

The Championship club insist Sala's agents were responsible for the rejection of the initial forms, because of their wish for payments to be made up front rather than spread across the three years of the contract.

Cardiff also argue that agents, helping Nantes to sell the player, were to blame for the fact that he was flown on a sub-standard plane when they had offered safe scheduled flights.

FIFA's ruling last September stated: 'It was clear that it was always the intention of Cardiff to register the player with the Premier League and that the only reason why the contract was not approved was an omission of Cardiff itself.'

The governing body did not view the state of the plane to be relevant to their considerations.

Their report added: 'The circumstances surrounding the player's tragic passing in a plane accident may activate criminal proceedings and civil actions regarding Nantes' possible liability before local courts.

'(We are) of the opinion that those proceedings should be settled by the local courts and not by FIFA.'

Nantes did not offer comment on the video.