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Yankuba Minteh opened the scoring for Brighton & Hove Albion against his former club Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon.
It was Minteh’s second goal against Newcastle United this season having scored in the 2-1 FA Cup win at St James’ Park back in March.
The 20-year-old joined Brighton from Newcastle last June for £33million in a sale the club claimed they felt ‘forced’ to do in order to comply with PSR and avoid a points deduction.
Minteh has gone on to have a successful debut season with Brighton, scoring seven goals and assisting five in 34 appearances.
But after scoring against Newcastle for the second time this season, Minteh’s celebration was once again a talking point.
Minteh never played a match for Newcastle having spent his only season at the club on loan at Feyenoord before being sold to Brighton.
The winger hardly celebrated when he scored in the FA Cup at St James’ Park, instead holding his hands up as if to apologise to the Newcastle fans.
And Minteh seemed to be in an apologetic mood once again as he celebrated his goal at the Amex Stadium by putting his hands together as he looked to the travelling Newcastle fans.
The Gambian international then proceeded to shake his finger and point at his shirt and the ground at the Amex Stadium. For a player who didn’t play for Newcastle despite being contracted for a season, it was a celebration that certainly raised a few eyebrows on social media as supporters speculated just what it all meant.
You can judge for yourself here as it was captured by the Sky Sports cameras…
Speaking ahead of the fixture, Minteh admitted his ‘love’ for Brighton after joining from Newcastle last summer.
Minteh told The Athletic: “I didn’t know anything about that because I’d never heard of it, that thing, ‘PFA’, or something like that [meaning PSR],” he said.
“I just heard from my agent that they wanted to sell me. I said: ‘Okay, if they want to sell me, then it’s fine. I can go to another club and try. I know other clubs are interested in me, so if I don’t play there, then it’s an opportunity to play for another team.’ I wasn’t sad or anything like that.
“All I was doing in the Netherlands [at Feyenoord] was trying to show I could play in the Premier League, because that is all I want. It doesn’t matter if it is Newcastle, Bournemouth or Brighton, but after finding myself in Brighton, I have fallen in love with the club now. I am settled here and I am good here now.
“I don’t have anything against Newcastle. This is how football works. You go to this team, you think you are going to stay there for the rest of your life. Another team wants you, you move to another team.”
Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe couldn’t hide his frustration at the sales of Minteh and Anderson last summer. But when the alternative was losing a key first-team player or being handed a points deduction, the club felt they had no other choice.
“In my opinion, it was absolutely the right thing to do but it still hurts to have done it,” Howe 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 a points deduction.
“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.
“He’s got standout qualities. Pace, power, a lovely left foot – we’re well aware of his strengths.”
