‘It hurt’: Howe admits transfer regrets as Newcastle prepare to face former wonderkid

Newcastle will host Brighton this weekend knowing that wonderkid Yankuba Minteh will be playing for the visitors instead of his first appearance at St James’ Park coming while wearing black and white.

The 20-year-old left the Magpies for Brighton for €35 million in the summer after Newcastle were reluctantly forced into a sale due to their battle with PSR constraints.

Minteh had only joined Newcastle in 2023 for €8m and the Gambian had a breakout season on loan at Feyenoord, where he provided ten goals and five assists in 27 league games.

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With Newcastle desperate to strengthen their right wing during the summer, Minteh’s return to the club seemed like the perfect solution, which made his departure even more painful for Eddie Howe.

The Newcastle boss admitted having to cash in on Minteh and academy graduate Elliot Anderson ‘hurt’ but insisted the decision was ‘the right thing’ for the club and its finances.

However, despite Howe’s praise for Minteh, the Daily Mail have also claimed that some senior staff at Newcastle were ‘not convinced’ that the youngster was what the club needed at right wing, which softened the decision to let him leave.

Howe: Minteh would be starting for Newcastle if we kept him

Although doubts over Minteh may have been present from some figures at the club, Newcastle never had the chance to fully assess the winger during his short stint with the Magpies, having immediately headed on loan to Feyenoord upon his signing.

And Minteh may face Newcastle on Saturday with a point to prove, with his agent telling The Chronicle: “Yankuba told me before the international break that he is looking forward to finally playing at St James’ Park.

“Hopefully he will get a good reception even though he never played a game in a Newcastle jersey.”

Despite the alleged uncertainty over Minteh at Newcastle, Howe insisted the forward would be starting for his side had he remained in the North East.

“Yeah he would have been (playing) of course, if he was ours,” Howe said when asked about Minteh. “We didn’t want to sell Yankuba at all, we believed in his potential and everything about his profile fitted what we needed but we had to make a decision based on finances.

“We would have utilised his skillset and the attributes he has and we know tomorrow going against him we’re going to have to defend well against him because he has standout qualities – pace, power and a lovely left foot so we are well aware of his strengths.”