Emiliano Sala receives tribute to his former clubs and Kylian Mbappe

On 21 January 2019, Emiliano Sala died in a tragic plane crash on a flight between Nantes and Cardiff, the city where the Argentine striker was about to join the transfer. Four years later, he is still remembered: several players in French football, notably his former clubs and Kylian Mbappe, have paid tribute to him.

In his social networks, the Frenchman posted a photo of Sala in a Nantes jersey with fingers raised to the sky with the caption “4 years” and with a dove emoji. The Paris Saint-Germain star, who has never worn the same shirt as the Argentine, has already made a good gesture at the time of his disappearance by paying €30,000 to a kitten his family has abandoned to restart research on his body. He did the same with the plane’s pilot, David Ibbotson, another missing person.

Message from Cardiff

Sala’s memory was also hailed by several of his former clubs, including Nantes and Bordeaux. “On this particular day, four years after his tragic disappearance, the club has a touching thought for Amy, his family and his loved ones,” we could read, in particular, on the social networks of the Girondins. “Remembering Emiliano” contented himself with writing Cardiff City along with a photo of the player.

Cardiff’s message did not sit well with some supporters, with the Welsh club long refusing to pay the €17m transfer fee they owed Nantes for Salou, believing the player was still not officially theirs at the time of his death. Sanctioned by FIFA and stripped of three transfer windows, he finally made his first €8m payment to the Canary Islands in mid-January.