Cardiff’s record new signing Emiliano Sala has been confirmed missing after his plane disappeared over the English Channel

Cardiff City’s record new signing Emiliano Sala was on board a light aircraft that disappeared over the English Channel on Monday night.

French police sources say Cardiff City football player Emiliano Sala was on board a light aircraft that lost radar contact over the English Channel on Monday night.

British and French coastguards scoured the seas off Guernsey on Tuesday for the single-engine plane after it went missing on its way from Nantes in western France to the Welsh city of Cardiff.

The 28-year-old Argentine forward joined Premier League strugglers Cardiff City from FC Nantes last week for a club record fee of around $A27 million). He had played in France since 2012.

Cardiff signed Emiliano Sala from Nantes for a club-record $27 million.

Local coastguards were alerted by air traffic control that an aircraft with two people on board had gone missing.

Lifeboats and helicopters were sent out but the search was suspended four hours later as weather conditions worsened.

Search teams resumed work on Tuesday morning.

“At this time no trace of the missing aircraft had been found,” Guernsey police said.

FC Nantes and Cardiff city officials did not immediately comment. Sala had scored 12 league goals in 19 appearances for Nantes in France’s Ligue 1 this season before switching this week to Cardiff.

Originally published as Cardiff’s record new signing Emiliano Sala has been confirmed missing after his plane disappeared over the English Channel