Cardiff - Emiliano Sala’s sister has shared a heartbreaking image of his dog waiting patiently for him to come home.

Romina Sala shared the picture on Facebook showing rescue dog, Nala, staring into the distance and captioned it: "Nala is waiting for you too... ?"

The newly signed Cardiff City striker, 28, went missing after the light aircraft he was in disappeared on January 21 over the English Channel.

He had just signed a £15 million (R262.5 million) deal with the Wales-based English Premiership club, according to the Mirror.

He was returning to South Wales, after having said his goodbyes to former team-mates and staff at his French club Nantes.

The plane carrying Sala and pilot David Ibbotson, 59, who are both missing and presumed dead, was discovered by a private underwater search team on Sunday - almost two weeks after it disappeared.

Sport24 previously reported that a body was later discovered in the wreckage, but it’s yet to be identified.

The plane, a Piper PA-46 Malibu, vanished from radar around 20km north of Guernsey.

Local police called off the search after a few days, stating that it was unlikely anyone would still be found alive.

But Sala’s family launched a crowd-funding campaign for a private search.

A private team led by renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns resumed the search and discovered the plane.

“Our job is done. This is an active investigation now in the hands of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), and they’ll be taking over as agreed.

“We’ve had a long trip back and all I could think about was the families. This is what they wanted us to do, we’ve achieved it and that’s the best we could have hoped for - the best outcome.”

Sala had a close relationship with his dog and Nala was reportedly one of the reasons the star had returned to France.

It’s understood the Argentinian had taken Nala to kennels and was in the process of moving her to Wales to live with him.