Newcastle United head into their next Premier League fixture looking to get another win on the board, after failing to pick up a win from their last three games in the division before the international break intervened.
Eddie Howe will have had sufficient time on the training pitch – away from games coming thick and fast – with his Magpies players in order to try and get more of a tune out of them for the test of Brighton and Hove Albion up next, which won’t be a walk in the park for the Tyneside hosts by any stretch of the imagination.
Howe’s men will even come up against one of their former players in this clash, which will add some spice to the affair at St James’ Park, who is a sale that could go down as being as big of a blunder as Ivan Toney – who exited in 2018 for just £500k.
Toney since leaving Newcastle
Before his mega money move to Al-Ahli came to fruition, Toney had to prove himself away from the Magpies, having been discarded for that low amount to League One outfit Peterborough United.
The 6 foot 1 attacker more than achieved that, going on to notch up a devastating 49 strikes from 94 games at his new Cambridgeshire outfit, before Brentford then also benefitted from his midas touch in-front of goal.
Away from a controversial betting ban that soured his time with the Bees towards the end, Toney would cement his reputation as an ice-cold finisher in West London, with a mightily impressive return of 72 goals from 141 contests.
In truth, the Magpies were made to look unbelievably foolish for offloading Toney without ever allowing him to realise his full potential at St James’ Park, with the now Saudi League striker only managing a mere four first-team appearances on Tyneside.
Yet, even with how much of an impactful error this was, Newcastle could lament the sale of this former player even more, especially if he dazzles back on his old patch with the Seagulls this coming weekend.
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Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast's Where Are They Now series.
The sale that Newcastle could live to regret
Yankuba Minteh would be barely known as a Magpies player, having signed for his new club before a ball was kicked on the eve of the 2023/24 season, to then be immediately loaned out to Feyenoord.
You would have anticipated that Newcastle would then be willing to give the Gambian winger a shot in the first-team when he returned from the Netherlands, especially after he tore the Eredivisie to shreds at points, but the Premier League side would just allow Minteh to join their weekend’s opponents for £30m, in the wake of PSR constraints.
Stat – per 90 mins*
Minteh
Games played
27
Goals scored
10
Assists
5
Scoring frequency
147 mins
Shots*
2.1
Big chances missed
10
Big chances created
9
Looking at the table above, it’s clear why Fabian Hurzeler’s side forked out such a lavish amount to win Minteh’s services this summer, with a deadly 15 goal contributions registered from the promising attacker in league action last season for Feyenoord.
Described as possessing a “Vinicius quality” on the ball – referring to Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior’s ability to bamboozle defences – by Premier League Panel’s Raj Chohan when the 20-year-old’s future was up in the air at St James’ Park this off-season, Howe and Co will just hope Minteh has a quiet return to Newcastle on Saturday away from further proving those wrong at the Toon.
Unfortunately for the hosts, Minteh will come into this game even more eager to cause the Magpies misery after opening his Brighton account just last match versus Tottenham Hotspur, when firing home a fierce finish to kickstart his side’s dramatic 3-2 comeback.
Whilst it took Toney many years to rise back up to the Premier League, Minteh looks to already be a sound fit for the challenges of the top division, with the ex-Feyenoord man capable of exploding even more in the men’s game over time.
With Newcastle also a little threadbare down the right flank away from Jacob Murphy and Miguel Almiron, the decision to move the 20-year-old on continues to look more and more baffling, with Minteh wanting to haunt Howe’s men even more when Premier League action resumes very soon.
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