Benoit Assou-Ekotto reignites beef with Kylian Mbappé over African heritage

Assou-Ekotto has accused Mbappé of not caring about his African heritage

Benoit Assou-Ekotto has reignited his beef with Kylian Mbappé. The former Spurs defender accused Mbappé of not caring about his African heritage as much as he lets on at the start of the year via Twitter. In the past, Mbappé has spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron and George Weah, formerly of AC Milan and current Liberian President, about his desire to honour his roots by helping to develop the sport in Africa. Assou-Ekotto isn't buying it, though. https://twitter.com/AssouEkotto/status/966391021801271297 "European players of African origin who hold Africa in their hears and who want to help the sport in Africa… blah, blah, blah… while rushing to play for a European national team make me chuckle," Assou-Ekotto tweeted. Both players were born in France to parents of Cameroonian and Algerian descent, but Mbappé chose to represent his country of birth while Assou-Ekotto chose to play for Cameroon. Mbappé responded to the Twitter jibe sarcastically, referencing the time Assou-Ekotto had a fight on the pitch with his own teammate during the 2014 World Cup. "These African players who hold Africa in their hearts and want to help African sport blah-blah-blah blah while fighting with a teammate on the international scene in 2014.... You make me softly laugh... but these are your values," Mbappé tweeted. The feud then took a backseat for a few months, but Assou-Ekotto has brought it back into the limelight while speaking to RMC.

"Put yourself in the place of the players from Cameroon," he said. "You, a French player are going to come to develop us… Stay at home, help your guys in Bondy, in your neighbourhood, in your France.

"Yes, you love Africa, but you never go there. So what's the story? Yes, you love your wife, but you go out with another. It's a game I know, manipulate public opinion, blah, blah blah."

https://twitter.com/RMCsport/status/1043254749636829184