By Dominic Scurr
Yankuba Minteh missed out on a return to Newcastle United with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Danny Welbeck scored the only goal of the game as Brighton claimed a 1-0 win at St James’ Park. But Minteh, who joined The Seagulls from Newcastle for £33million in June without making a first-team appearance for the club did not play.
The 20-year-old winger scored for Brighton in their 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur before the international break but missed out on the trip to St James’ Park following international duty with Gambia.
Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe was asked about the sale of Minteh ahead of the match.
“In my opinion, it was absolutely the right thing to do but it still hurts to have done it,” he said. “We had no other option.
“Regardless of how Elliot does and what Yankuba does, it was still the right thing to do for the benefit of Newcastle. We couldn’t breach PSR and couldn’t have our points deducted.
“We didn’t want to sell Yankuba at all, we believe in his potential and everything about his profile fits with what we needed but we had to make a decision based on finances.”
Howe added: “The plan would have been to involve [Minteh] of course if he was ours. We would have utilised his skill set and the attributes he has.
“We know tomorrow coming up against him we’re going to have to defend very well because he’s got standout qualities. Pace, power, a lovely left foot – we’re well aware of his strengths.” While Newcastle didn’t have to deal with Minteh on Saturday, it didn’t stop them from suffering their first home defeat of the season as it’s now four Premier League games without a win for Eddie Howe’s side.
