Missing Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala was originally due to fly to Wales at a different time with a different pilot, it has been reported.

The 28-year-old - Cardiff's record £15m signing - is feared to have died after the plane he was travelling on disappeared off radar on Monday night.

According to the Daily Mail, the Argentine was originally due to make the journey from Nantes on Monday morning with pilot David Henderson but instead travelled that evening at 7.15pm with David Ibbotson at the controls.

A receptionist at the French hotel where Ibbotson had been staying told the newspaper: "Mr Ibbotson asked me to book him a taxi to take him to the airport at 7.30 on Monday morning. He told me the flight from Nantes to Cardiff was scheduled to leave on Monday morning.

"But on Monday morning he cancelled the taxi and booked back into the hotel. He spent the rest of the day in his room and left at about 6pm.

"Mr Ibbotson arrived at the hotel on Saturday. He stayed for two nights – Saturday and Sunday. He was meant to check out on Monday. But he kept the room for Monday night although he did not sleep here on Monday. He stayed in the room and left in the evening."

Yesterday rescue workers called off the search for Sala and Ibbotson after deciding that their chances of survival were "extremely remote".