Cardiff and Nantes have agreed to push back the date for payment of the first instalment of the £15m transfer fee for Emiliano Sala until 27 February.

The Premier League club had been asked to pay €6m (£5.27m) to Nantes on 20 February but it is understood a week’s delay has been agreed.

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Sala was killed when the private plane bringing him to Cardiff crashed into the Channel on 21 January, two days after his record move. The Lincolnshire pilot David Ibbotson remains missing.

Nantes’ lawyers wrote to Cardiff on 5 February asking for the first of three annual payments for the player, as was agreed last month, to be paid within 10 working days. Cardiff, however, want to wait until the investigation into the crash is complete.

They are also querying “anomalies” in contract details but their chairman, Mehmet Dalman, has said they will be “honourable” with Nantes over the transfer fee if they are contractually obliged to play.

Cardiff say several questions must be answered about the accident. Any wrongdoing in regards to the flight could annul the Welsh club’s reported £16m insurance policy for Sala and, if that wrongdoing was another party’s responsibility, they may have to sue for compensation.

Nantes are eager to find a replacement for Sala, their leading scorer for the past three seasons. The situation is further complicated by Nantes owing Bordeaux 50% of the fee because of a sell-on clause agreed when they bought Sala in 2015.

If the dispute is not resolved, it could end up in the hands of Fifa and its dispute resolution chamber (DRC), the body that arbitrates when players or clubs have a disagreement. However, it is possible that both sides would agree to go straight to the court of arbitration for sport in Lausanne.