Yankuba Minteh was one of the stars of the early Premier League season before injuries hampered his progress. But there are signs Brighton’s summer move from Newcastle could be poised to make a difference to his team in 2025.
A positive performance from the bench in the Seagulls’ come-from-behind draw at Aston Villa has placed him firmly in Fabian Hurzeler’s thoughts for Saturday’s visit to Arsenal. The Gunners are in good form but any opponent will struggle to deal with the high-flying Minteh.
The winger brings something different. With a top speed of 35.38 km/h, he is the fastest player in the team and the only Brighton player among the 50 fastest players in the Premier League this season. It is the basis of his creativity and a very useful weapon.
Yankuba Minte has been Brighton’s fastest player in the Premier League this season.
Johnathan McKinstry is Minteh’s head coach at international level for The Gambia. This ability to run away from people is special. “Essentially, he has the most important attribute for an offensive player in football: speed,” McKinstry says. sky sports.
“If you talk to defenders at any level, what they don’t want to deal with is real speed. You don’t need all the skill in the world, if you can get the ball into space and have the acceleration to get past someone, the opponent. It causes a lot of problems.”
Minte ranks 4th in dribble attempts and 11th in cross success in the Premier League this season. He also scored a few goals in the win over Tottenham and in the second half against Leicester. He has a rare talent for making things happen.
Considering the quality of Herzeler’s squad, it is surprisingly Minte who is expected to provide the most assists per 90 minutes of any Brighton player this season. The person who creates chances most often is the 20-year-old winger, not Kaoru Mitoma or Joao Pedro.
Yankuba Minte’s expected assists per 90 minutes is the highest among Brighton players.
It’s clear his game still has some areas to work on. It can be messy at times and everything happens so quickly that the precision required isn’t always apparent, especially in the final third of the pitch where decision-making is so important.
For example, it is not surprising that he loses the ball more often than his teammates. Minteh attempts a lot of dribbles, but his actual successful dribble percentage is the lowest among the best dribblers in the Premier League.
Yankuba Minte ranks fourth in the Premier League in number of dribble attempts per 90 minutes.
But, this is unexpected, right? Minte did not come from a Premier League academy. He only signed for Danish club OB in the summer of 2022, and was a sparse participant there until last season when he impressed for Feyenoord on loan from Newcastle.
Brighton were still likely to buy despite paying big money for a player who Eddie Howe believed in his potential but was forced to sell for financial reasons. What is encouraging is that Minteh has the will to improve.
Even before his debut, Hurzeler described him as a “role model” to others in the group because of the way he accepted demands such as counter-pressing. Minteh is now in the top 10 for final thirds of possessions per 90 minutes.
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Highlights of the Premier League match between Aston Villa and Brighton
“Yankuba has real determination,” says McKinstry.
“Sometimes the challenge for coaches with young players entering professional football is that it is easy to get distracted by celebrity and finances, but the young players from Cuba and Gambia have steely determination.
“We always talk about the difficulties of the European academy system. Players can get everything from very early on, but if you look at a lot of young Gambian players, they were in the Gambia until they were 17 or 18 years old.
“These players had to deal with adults because they were playing in the domestic league, which was basically an amateur league. They were kicked out of there at the age of 17 and had to learn how to survive in football in that environment.
“The good thing is that when they get to a Premier League club, a Bundesliga club, a Serie A club, they don’t take it for granted. They have already experienced the rough edges of football, so in this nice, shiny environment they know they have to work for it. there is.
“Our young players don’t like losing, they really don’t like it. As a coach, it feels great to know that they don’t smile, laugh or joke if they don’t get the results they want. That mentality should be there for young players as well.”
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Tony Bloom explains the reasoning behind the transfer of Yankuba Minte from Newcastle.
And Minte remains a young player, not turning 21 until July. Only seven players younger than him have made as many appearances in the Premier League this season, and all but two of them are British. The learning curve is steep. But he is learning.
“You can’t swim in a sea of sharks without the Premier League making big demands on you,” adds McKinstry. “He’s off to a good start, but the most important person to know is that it’s only the beginning. And he knows it.
“He knows he is only 20 years old and has a lot more work to do to continue down this path. He is already an important player but he wants to learn as much as he can from people.” “It’s really refreshing to be around him.”
Minte is expected to take the next step in 2025.
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