Sol Bamba has spoken of the “shock” felt by Cardiff City players over the loss of missing new teammate Emiliano Sala.
Bamba is preparing for Tuesday night’s match at Arsenal when the Bluebirds will play their first match since Sala and his pilot disappeared flying over the Channel Islands a week ago.
The French-born defender has told Sky Sports News that once former Nantes striker Sala was introduced to some of his new teammates after signing, then he was regarded as part of the squad.
“It was a tough week for everyone, we’ve all been hurt and affected by it,” said Bamba. “Everyone got together and obviously everyone has been talking to make sure we’re all OK. But it was a tough week.
“To be fair, no one could believe it. At the start we thought it was just a silly joke, but we have a group chat and a few of the boys in the group posted headlines from the news.
“When we realised it was true, we all spoke to each other through messages and a few of the boys have been calling each other.
“Obviously training was called off, but the next day we got together and everyone was in shock. I’ve never seen the dressing room that quiet, everyone was so sad and it was a shock really.”
An extensive search ended on Thursday, but Sala’s family, Cardiff chairman Ken Choo and many players including Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero have urged rescuers to continue their search.
A fundraising campaign to resume the search raised more than £200,000 and the Sala family are in Guernsey from where they have viewed the sea areas where the plane is understood to have gone down.
Bamba added: “It’s a human tragedy and if you’re human, you’re going to be hurt by it. You’re right to feel like that, it’s a tragedy. If you’ve got a heart, you’re going to be affected by it.
“Even if he wasn’t fully part of us, from the minute he signed for us and came to see the boys to say hello, he was part of us, so everyone feels like he is part of the team.”
“We have to hope because we haven’t found his body yet, even if the chances are very slim, but we like to think there can be a happy ending hopefully.”
Cardiff’s players did not train for two days last week and they will show their support to Sala’s family with floral tributes at the Emirates Stadium.
“We tried to prepare as normal, but it would be fair to say it wasn’t a normal week. The gaffer has been good because if you don’t feel right to train, you don’t have to come in.
“It’s up to every one of us to prepare as best we can and yesterday the gaffer said we have to get back to business because we’ve got a job to do, so we started preparing for Tuesday.
“But we’re professional and we know we have to play that game, so we’re going to do the best we can.”