Scottish-born Willie McKay, who lives in Monaco, is not Sala's representative but his son Mark is said to have helped with brokering the transfer between Cardiff and Nantes as well as his flight from France to Wales.
Mr McKay Sr is one of Britain's best known football agents and has made millions helping top French stars move to England's top leagues as well as managing Premier League stars including Joey Barton.
His son Mark has also been involved in a number of high-profile transfers including Dimitri Payet's £10.7million move to West Ham.
The privately-owned Piper Malibu aircraft, registered to a company in Norfolk, appears to have crashed into the sea near Alderney on Monday night with rescuers today revealing there is 'no hope' of survival.
It has also emerged how the pilot told a friend he was 'a bit rusty' with the plane's landing system shortly before the ill-fated flight.
Cardiff City's chairman Mehmet Dalman revealed that their new star, just signed for £15million from FC Nantes, turned down a commercial flight from Paris and chose to take a private plane instead.
Today John Fitzgerald, chief officer of Channel Islands Air Search, said there is 'no hope' of finding the men because 'even the most fit person' would only survive a few hours in the Channel in January.
Revealing the operation is now recovery, not a search for survivors, he said: 'Sadly, I really don't think, personally, there is any hope. At this time of year the conditions out there are pretty horrendous if you are actually in the water.'
The pilot missing with footballer Emiliano Sala has today been named as a British father-of-three and gas engineer from Scunthorpe.
David Ibbotson, 60, was reportedly at the controls of the privately-owned Piper Malibu aircraft believed to have crashed into the sea near Alderney on Monday night.
The pilot, whose nickname is 'Dibbo', is married with three children and lives with his wife Nora near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, and according to his Facebook account he checked into a hotel next to Nantes Airport on Saturday night.
He is an experienced pilot specialising in private flights and parachute expeditions - but also is a qualified gas engineer running his own boiler repair company in North Lincolnshire.
In Facebook posts before the doomed flight, Mr Ibbotson told a friend he was 'a bit rusty with the ILS (Instrument Landing System)'.
He tagged himself at Nantes Airport on Saturday before telling a friend ahead of his flight on Sunday: 'Was not to (sic) bad when I got there but I'm a bit rusty with the ils, in France now.'
Today at the family home in Crowle, 10-miles from Scunthorpe, a sobbing woman told the Grimsby Telegraph: 'We do not wish to give a comment.'
Mr Sala's heartbroken underwear model ex-girlfriend today blamed the 'football mafia' after his plane vanished over the Channel and said: 'I can't believe this is an accident'.
Victoria's Secret star Berenice Schkair, 27, made the extraordinary claim on social media after the new Cardiff City star's plane went missing over the English Channel after taking off in Nantes, France.
On Twitter last night Berenice tweeted: 'Investigate the football mafia because I don't believe this was an accident' before deleting it.
Lifeboats, helicopters and even locals in fishing boats have been scouring the sea for him - but have had to stop between dusk and dawn.
Posting photographs of them together, she wrote on Instagram: 'Emi, my heart is broken. I still cannot understand it. I'm destroyed, I feel pain, fear and anger for not being able to do anything. I know you're strong. We are waiting for you.
'I want to wake up and all of this to be a lie. Please investigate because I cannot believe this is an accident. Don't suspend the search for bad weather when you only just found objects floating.
'The thing I regret most is not having told you that you made me feel like I haven't felt in a while and I love you. Why does this misfortune happen to such a fascinating man full of projects, hard working, a good person dedicated to his job'.
The UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch said today the missing plane is a Piper PA-46-310P Malibu aircraft with the registration N264DB.
MAilOnline
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