Guernsey police have suspended their search on Wednesday evening for the plane carrying soccer player Emiliano Sala which disappeared over the English Channel.

Cardiff City's new signing and the aircraft's pilot, named on Wednesday as Briton David Ibbotson, had been missing since Monday night.

Rescuers said there was almost no chance of Sala being found alive after a recording emerged of a fearful voice message he apparently sent from his stricken plane before it disappeared from radar screens at a little more than 2,000 feet (600 meters).

In a chilling voice message sent to friends, which Argentina's Clarin newspaper said was authenticated by Sala's father, the player expressed concerns about the single-engine Piper Malibu aircraft he was flying in.

"I'm in the plane and it looks like it's going to fall apart," he said. "Dad, I'm really scared."

Rescue teams reviewed satellite imagery and mobile phone data while four aircraft scoured seas off the island of Alderney, where unidentified debris had been spotted.

"After an intensive search using multiple aircraft and one lifeboat over the last nine hours, we have found no trace of the missing plane," they said in a statement.

The police said a decision on whether to continue the hunt would be taken in the morning.

"We're up there looking for stuff that we don't expect to find," John Fitzgerald, chief officer of the Channel Islands Air Search told Reuters. 

"If there was anything on the surface I think we would have found it on the first night because the weather conditions were really good," Fitzgerald added.

The 28-year-old Argentina-born forward was en route from Nantes in western France to make his debut for Premier League side Cardiff City.

Sala joined struggling Cardiff from French Ligue 1 club Nantes last week for a club record fee of about 17 million euros (19 million US dollars), having scored 12 goals for the French club this season.

Meanwhile, Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman said Sala made his own arrangements to travel to the Welsh capital.

"We spoke to the player and asked him if he wanted us to make arrangements for his flight which, quite frankly, would have been commercial," said Dalman. "He declined and made his own arrangements I can't tell you who arranged the flight because I don't know at this stage – but it certainly wasn't Cardiff City." 

According to a separate report on the BBC, Dalman said there were no plans to rearrange the club's next Premier League match, against Arsenal at the Emirates on January 29. 

The club are currently third from bottom of the Premier League, two points from safety. 

(With inputs from Reuters and AFP)