Emiliano Sala’s poignant ‘last’ words before plane disappeared

Less than 24 hours ago, new Premier League footballer Emiliano Sala was farewelling his former teammates at FC Nantes, grinning widely as he draped his arms over his friends at the French club.

A picture from the moment was captioned on the striker’s Instagram page, “La ultima ciao” - Italian for “the last goodbye”.

Today, as rescue crews try desperately to find the light aircraft Sala was travelling in after it disappeared over the English Channel, the poignant words are feared to be among his last.

Concerned fans are flooding the 28-year-old’s social media page with messages of hope and emojis of prayer hands as search crews struggle to find the missing plane.

Sala’s former club FC Nantes changed its Instagram photo to a picture of Sala and posted a video of fans gathering to chant the player’s name.

“Tu es plus qu’un joueur,” the club captioned the video, “you are more than one player”.

The Argentine was flying to England to join Premier League team Cardiff City for a club record fee of about $27 million AUD.

Fans have reportedly begun laying flowers at the club’s stadium, while chief executive Ken Choo said those at the club were “very distressed” by Sala’s disappearance.

Mr Choo said Sala was due to start training with the team yesterday.

“We made the decision first thing this morning to call off training with the thoughts of the squad, management staff and the entire Club with Emiliano and the pilot,” he said.

“All of us at Cardiff City FC would like to thank our fans, and the entire footballing family for their support at this difficult time.

“We continue to pray for positive news.”

Meanwhile, Juventus player Cristiano Ronaldo has come under fire for showing off a picture of himself smiling on a plane just hours after news broke of the missing aircraft.

Former England player and sports pundit Gary Lineker criticised the sportstar for his ill-timed post.

“Not the day for this tweet. It really isn’t,” he wrote.

Coastguards have been scouring the seas off Guernsey for the PA 46 Malibu plane after it went missing on its way from Nantes to Cardiff, Wales.

But the search has been hampered by wild weather and was suspended for four hours yesterday.