Just three days after he signed for Premier League club Cardiff City, Emiliano Sala was on a light aircraft which disappeared on Monday night, French authorities have confirmed.

Axar.az reports citing BBC that, the 28-year-old Argentine was one of two people on board the Piper Malibu, which went missing off Alderney in the Channel Islands.

Cardiff spent a club-record fee of around £15m on a player who they had been interested in for more than a month.

Monday, 21 January: Sala flies from Nantes to Cardiff at 19:15 but, at 20:30, the Piper Malibu light aircraft he is aboard goes missing off Alderney in the Channel Islands.

The plane had been flying at 5,000ft when it contacted Jersey air traffic control requesting descent, the plane lost contact while at 2,300ft.

Tuesday, 22 January: Searches for the plane are suspended at 02:00 "due to strengthening winds, worsening sea conditions and reducing visibility", according to police, before the search resumes at 08:00.

A huge rescue operation for Sala and his pilot got underway and it is feared their aeroplane crashed into the sea. Search leader John Fitzgerald said: ‘Personally, and I only speak for myself, I do not think there is any chance of therm being alive right now.’

"I'm on a plane that looks like it's going to fall apart, and I'm leaving for Cardiff," Sala said in a WhatsApp audio message broadcast by Argentine media.

"If in an hour and a half you have no news from me, I don't know if they will send people to look for me, because they will not find me, you know. Dad, I'm so scared."

Sala is missing and presumed dead after the single-engine Piper PA-46 Malibu aircraft disappeared.

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Emiliano Sala's ex-girlfriend has claimed she doesn't believe the disappearance of the Cardiff striker's plane is an accident.

The 28-year-old was travelling from Nantes to the Welsh capital to join his team-mates following his £15million move.

His plane was lost from the radar as it crossed the English Channel and Sala is now feared dead.

His former partner Berenice Schkair, a French model, posted a cryptic tweet which she later deleted before expanding on her message on Instagram.

She initially said: "Investigate the soccer mafia because I do not believe this accident."

Later she wrote: "I want to wake up and this is all a lie. Please investigate because I do not believe this was an accident or suspend a search for bad weather when they hardly find objects floating in [the sea].

"I need to read that you showed up I can not believe they stop the search until tomorrow , that they lose time and do not investigate, I feel powerless, it's a nightmare."

On Wednesday, rescue workers resumed their search for the plane.

Two planes took off on Wednesday morning to search a "targeted area" where there is the "highest likelihood" of finding anything based on a review of tides and the weather.

Coastal areas around Alderney and off-lying rocks and islands will also be searched from the air, police said.