'Most difficult week in my 40yr career': Cardiff boss Warnock almost quit football over Sala tragedy

Cardiff manager Neil Warnock has admitted he thought about walking away from football in the wake of the tragic disappearance of Emiliano Sala, whose plane went missing as he traveled to link up with the Premier League club.

The light aircraft on which Argentine Sala was traveling to make his first Cardiff training session following a club record £15 million move from Nantes went missing off the coast of Guernsey on its way from northern France to the Welsh capital last week. 

Despite a renewed search funded by a group of footballers, apparently including Lionel Messi, no sign has yet been found of the player nor the aircraft's pilot in a hunt which has covered several hundred square miles. The official search for the pair was called off on Thursday.

The football community has united in support in the search for the player, with several clubs paying tribute to the player before fixtures in various leagues across the world last weekend, but as Cardiff City boss Warnock described in a press conference on Monday, the situation has deeply affected those at the Premier League club for whom he had just signed a contract with.

"You think 24 hours a day about whether to carry on," Warnock said, referencing his thoughts at potentially stepping away from football in the wake of what is looking increasingly like a tragedy. 

"It's impossible to sleep. I've been in football management for 40 years and it's been by far the most difficult week in my career, by an absolute mile. It's been a traumatic week and even now I can't get my head around the situation.

"It's probably hit me me harder than anyone else as I've met the lad and talked to him for the last six to eight weeks."

Cardiff City are scheduled to face Arsenal on Tuesday and have announced that captain Sol Bamba will lay daffodils on the pitch, while the Arsenal skipper will lay tulips at the same time. Black armbands will not be worn at the request of Sala's family - who have arrived in Guernsey in the English Channel as the publicly funded search continues.