Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe donates £27,000 and Gary Lineker contributes to help fund private search for plane pilot David Ibbotson

Kylian Mbappe has donated £27,000 to help keep the search for missing pilot David Ibbotson ongoing.

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has also contributed £1,000 to the investigation, as the search for Ibbotson’s remains continue.

On Thursday, Cardiff striker Emiliano Sala’s body was formally identified in the wreckage of the Piper Malibu plane which crashed into the English Channel on January 21 by the Air Accident Investigation Branch and privately funded search teams.

The official search for Sala was called off after four days, but more than £260,000 was raised to fund a private search; Paris Saint-Germain striker Mbappe donated £26,267 (€30,010), along with a host of other football stars, to help keep the operation going.

Mbappe has since donated a further £27,000 to crowdfunding campaign for Ibbotson, while Lineker’s donation is the second largest.

The former England forward also shared the GoFundMe page on his Twitter page.

On Friday Sala’s family urged authorities to continue looking for the pilot’s body after the search for Ibbotson was called off for the foreseeable future.

They said in a statement: “It is with infinite sadness that we confirm the identity of Emiliano’s body.

“We would like to thank you for all your signs of affection and support in what is the most painful time of our lives.

“Seeing the whole world mobilised to support us in our research has been an infinitely precious help. Thanks to you, we are now able to mourn our son, our brother.

“On this Friday morning, our thoughts go to David Ibbotson and his family, hoping that the authorities will do their best to find him.”