Newcastle must rue selling “expensive” star

Newcastle United do have an EFL Cup final on the horizon, but there will be a disappointment in the air on Tyneside all the same as Eddie Howe‘s Magpies crashed out of the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.

Brighton and Hove Albion would eventually run out 2-1 victors in extra-time courtesy of a late Danny Welbeck strike, as both sides ended up entering the additional 30 minutes of action down a man due to two red cards in a feisty affair at St James’ Park.

Before all that drama played out, however, a former Newcastle face came back to haunt the Toon in Yankuba Minteh, as the Gambian attacker – who never properly donned Magpies black and white – showed Howe and Co what they’re missing out on.

Minteh’s heroics at St James’ Park

After a standout loan stint in the Netherlands with Feyenoord saw Minteh bag 11 strikes from 37 games, many back at Newcastle would have expected the 20-year-old to be given a fair shot in the first team.

Instead, however, the Tyneside outfit were at the mercy of PSR and had to offload the young winger, eventually selling him to Fabian Hurzeler’s Seagulls for £30m, a decision which now has come back to bite them.

It was a muted celebration from the 20-year-old on his return, but the Brighton speedster would have been delighted inside, with this breakaway strike his tenth goal contribution for the season from 26 clashes.

Whilst there will be a lot of obvious regret on Newcastle’s end that they let Minteh go prematurely, the Magpies are stacked in the attacking department arguably, even if Anthony Gordon did steal the headlines for all the wrong reasons in this match with a dismissal.

After all, Jacob Murphy has been one of Newcastle’s underrated players this term, featuring in Minteh’s preferred position and contributing with six goals and eight assists.

Gordon vs Minteh
Stat	Gordon	Minteh
Minutes	83	69
Goals	0	1
Touches	50	32
Shots	1	1
Accurate Passes	19/26	12/18
Key Passes	1	2
Successful Dribbles	0/4	1/2
Ground Duels Won	3/10	4/7
Aerial duels won	0/1	0/0
Tackles	1	2
Stats taken from Sofascore

Therefore, there is likely to be even more sorrow in the air that Newcastle let another revitalised performer depart.

Where Are They Now

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.

Missed more than Minteh: Newcastle will regret letting £35m star leave

Newcastle have fallen victim to some dodgy sales in recent years, notably allowing Chris Wood to exit the building for £15m, only for the New Zealand sharpshooter to now be on 18 goals and counting for Nottingham Forest this season in league action.

Alongside Wood in Nuno Espirito Santo’s camp is another former Toon figure in Elliot Anderson, who the top-flight overachievers managed to lure to the City Ground last summer for a figure of £35m.

Like Minteh, Anderson has arguably become a man-possessed for Forest in the middle of the park ever since this move was sanctioned, with the 22-year-old a promising local talent for the Magpies when amassing three assists from 55 games.

Now, however, as scout Jacek Kulig stated, “the most expensive signing in the club’s history is really paying off”. He’s also been described as “one of the best signings of the entire summer” by European football expert Zach Lowy. Fine praise indeed.

This has certainly left Newcastle in a sticky situation where they must curse their decision-making now to get rid of their homegrown talent, even if it did help PIF and Co comply with PSR rules in the process.

Anderson’s PL numbers this season (24/25)
Stat	Anderson
Games played	26
Goals scored	1
Assists	5
Touches per game	50.3
Accurate passes per game	25.9 (82%)
Big chances created	6
Tackles per game	2.5
Ball recoveries per game	5.3
Duels won per g ame	6.5
Stats by Sofascore

Looking at the table above, it’s clear that Anderson is the heartbeat of this energetic yet dogged Forest side, with flair in spades whenever he roams forward, but that is matched with grit and a fight that has seen him win a high 6.5 duels per top-flight contest.

In an alternate reality, Anderson would slot in nicely to the central midfield spots in Howe’s XI now, but it wasn’t to be as the Forest number eight now goes about securing a top-four finish for his side at the expense of his ex-employers.

Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson celebrates scoring their first goal with Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo

While Minteh’s exit will undoubtedly sting, seeing a homegrown prodigy – one of your own if you like – thriving elsewhere is certainly a bigger pill to swallow.