Newcastle United will go up against a former player of sorts in the form of Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh on Saturday.
Indeed, Newcastle United sold Minteh to Brighton in 2024 before the forward had ever played a game for the Magpies.
Like with Elliot Anderson, Newcastle did not want to sell Minteh, but chose to part company with those two players rather than any of their established stars at the time.
Last time out in the Premier League, much of the focus before the Nottingham Forest game was on Anderson. That’s not really the case with Minteh ahead of the Brighton clash, given he is not a product of the club’s academy.
Still, everyone at the club should know all about the 21-year-old. Newcastle rated Minteh highly and he’s since enjoyed some strong performances against them.
Yankuba Minteh reacts during Brighton's Premier League match against Tottenham.
Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images
The forward will come face-to-face with Newcastle once more on Saturday.
Minteh has a fine record against Eddie Howe’s side, scoring two goals in as many appearances against them last season.
The most recent of those came during a 1-1 draw down on the south coast in May.
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The Seagulls star opened the scoring at the Amex Stadium. While it was a good strike, it was a disappointing one for Newcastle to concede.
Tino Livramento stood off the forward and allowed him to cut inside on his left foot. Granted, the Newcastle United squad may not have known everything about Minteh given his bizarre stint on the club’s books, but the fact he wanted to cut in should have been obvious.
After the game, Dan Burn admitted that Newcastle knew about Minteh’s style of play and expressed his disappointment.
“Disappointed with the goal, sort of letting Minteh come in on his left foot, knowing that that’s what he was wanting to do,” he said.
Minteh is in good form this season, too. In his seven Premier League outings, he’s scored once and registered two assists. The fact Newcastle reluctantly sold him is not talked about as often as the Anderson situation.
However, given his record against them, perhaps it should be.
Why Yankuba Minteh refused to celebrate against Newcastle United
Minteh’s strange celebration against Newcastle sparked surprise back in May.
He first appeared to apologise before then wagging his finger at supporters.
As previously mentioned, he did not ever play for the club, so not celebrating did seem somewhat strange.
Minteh said of the situation: “It’s a nice celebration because they were my former team before but now I’m in Brighton and that’s where my focus is. So I try to celebrate for them and make them happy.”
Hopefully, that doesn’t happen again…