Kylian Mbappe is France’s golden boy, a sporting icon in his country at the age of still just 23 and someone who can usually do no wrong. But the Paris Saint-Germain striker was facing criticism on Tuesday for a rare mishap.The World Cup-winning striker has always appeared mature beyond his years, at ease speaking to the media even when still a teenager breaking through at Monaco. He comes across as intelligent, thoughtful and funny in interviews and already speaks fluent English and Spanish. Yet on Monday he slipped up.”We’re trying to see if we can travel by sand yacht.”Christophe Galtier and Kylian Mbappe could not hold in their laughs when asked about PSG taking a private jet for a short trip to a game in Nantes last weekend 🤣 pic.twitter.com/UxIQvKtDFm— SPORF (@Sporf) September 6, 2022 Mbappe burst out laughing along with his coach Christophe Galtier in a press conference when a question was put to them about PSG’s decision to travel by private jet to a game in the western city of Nantes. That journey, a modest 380 kilometres from Paris, has been met with a backlash in France, with the choice of travel coming under increased scrutiny over the carbon footprint.The head of the country’s state-owned railway company took to Twitter to point out that Nantes is just a two-hour journey on the high-speed TGV.Just doing 200mph down Hilgay High Street bor on my sand yacht!Whoosh💨💨💨💨💨 pic.twitter.com/ENi3k5N487— AliDentmadbutcherMBE🍒🥟🌭🍖🍗🥩🍳🍞🥖🥧 (@dent_alistair) January 18, 2018 The topic was bound to come up as Mbappe and Galtier faced questions ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League game at home to Italian giants Juventus. Galtier ironically replied that PSG had asked their travel organisers if they could travel to games “by sand-yacht”, while Mbappe said he has no comment on it.Agnes Pannier-Runacher, France’s Minister for Energy Transition, says that people from professional football are simply detached from such important issues. Such a misstep in the media is unusual for Mbappe, a player with a carefully crafted image and 75 million followers on Instagram, who has his own charitable foundation, ‘Inspired by KM’, and who speaks out against racism in football.Our boy Okumu inducted into Mozzart Sport Kenya’s All-African Team of the Week in top European leaguesFrank Hocquemiller, an agent for several French international footballers, says Mbappe was a bit caught out by the unusual question.”This is a devastating blow to his image. Footballers need to understand that if you are a role model, or in his case an icon, everything carries great importance. You can’t have 200 million followers and advertising contracts worth millions of euros, and then expect what you say not to have any resonance.”By displaying his detachment from environmental issues, Mbappe appears to have squandered an opportunity to come across as an “excellent ambassador” for promoting greener travel, according to French climatologist Valerie Masson-Delmotte.”For a long time I have been saying how good it would be if someone like Mbappe could show that you can pick up your litter, or travel by bike. What he says, what he does, these things have an influence far beyond what scientists might say or do, because he inspires so many people.”UCL begins tonight: Welcome to the world where Real Madrid are Champions League underdogsNevertheless, Hocquemiller said Mbappe’s response should be seen as nothing more than a youthful indiscretion.”It is all about gaining experience. He is really quite mature for his age and we have this impression that he is never going to make a mistake, but he is like everyone else. When he speaks he needs to understand the weight his words carry and how they are interpreted.”
