Cardiff City face a Premier League points deduction if they fail to honour the £15 million fee owed to Nantes for Emiliano Sala, a sports law expert has claimed.

The club have been dragged into a legal row with Nantes after receiving a demand for full payment for the transfer.

A source at Cardiff indicated they would eventually honour the contract, but Zurich-based Gianpaolo Monteneri, a former head of Fifa’s players’ status department, said: “If certain deadlines, which are mentioned in the transfer contract, are not met, then these may trigger consequences.

“This can be from an admonishment right up to a withdrawal of league points. It is a very tricky situation as we are talking about a human tragedy and an important amount of money.”

A legal letter from Nantes was emailed to Cardiff on Tuesday – the second demand in the space of a week – to request urgent payment.