Inside rise of Minteh, from playing on sand to £30m Brighton star in two years

THE only thing quicker than Brighton winger Yankuba Minteh is his rise to the top.

From playing on a sand pitch in The Gambia to becoming a £30m seaside star for the Seagulls in barely two years, the 20 year old is a young man in a hurry.

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Tonny Hermansen is the experienced academy director at Danish side Odense Boldklub, who signed the teenager in the summer of 2022.

Hermansen, who has worked with Christan Eriksen and other star names, said: “From zero to a hundred in two years in this way – I’ve never seen anything like it.

“But right from the beginning, Yankuba said, ‘I will be here for just a little while then I will go to the big leagues’. 

“And he was right.”

Minteh grew up a football-crazy Barcelona fan in Bakoteh, a village near The Gambia’s biggest city, Serrekunda.

He is one of the seven children of Buhari Minteh, a chef, and Mam Jassey, a vegetable seller, who all lived together in a rented two-room house.

A life-changing moment arrived when Bakary Bojang, a Gambian footballer who had settled in Odense after playing in the lower leagues in Denmark, visited his old village during a holiday back home.

Bojang explained: “The football academy in Bakoteh is run by my former coach.

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“He was telling me, ‘We have a kid here, he’s really good – everyone calls him Messi’.

“I don’t remember the date that I watched Yankuba for the first time, but I remember the feeling.

“He was playing with older boys but the way he was driving with the ball on a sandy pitch was amazing.

“I knew the standard in Europe from my playing days.

“I told the coach: ‘This kid is really special. I will do whatever I can to help him out of Gambia.’”

Bojang set up an agency and in summer 2021, took Minteh and another player, Dawda Darboe, for a trial at Odense, one of his own former clubs.

But it was Darboe who made the better impression.

Bojang said: “The first two training sessions, Yankuba was really good. Then he started slacking.

“The attitude and mindset were not 100 per cent.

“I had some really tough fights with him.

“I said: ‘You know the struggles you have had to get here. You know your family background. “‘This is what you want and love. You have it now and you want to give it all away?’

“I had to push for Odense to invite Yankuba the second time with Dawda. 

“I told them: ‘Dawda will not come if Yankuba is not coming.’”

At the second trial in early 2022, it was Minteh who shone.

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Bojang said: “He had a second chance and did not want to waste it. It’s a mentality that he still has now.”

But in a friendly match for Odense’s under-19 side, Minteh was sent off after earning two yellow cards for strong challenges.

Bojang said: “He thought he had blown his chance.”

Yet Hermansen pushed for Minteh to play for Odense’s reserves a few days later and the young winger did not let him down, playing well enough to earn a contract to be signed when he turned 18 in July.

And that’s when things really accelerated. 

Hermansen said: “In his first game for the Under-19s, he scored just before half time.

“Minutes later the head coach of the first team, Andreas Alm, came and said: ‘Tonny, you must take him off.’

“‘Why?’ ‘Because he is in the first-team squad tomorrow.’”

Minteh remained on the bench for that match but made his Superliga debut as a late substitute two weeks later.

Hermansen said: “His first three touches were so bad. He was of course nervous – the stadium was full, the opponents FC Copenhagen was a big team.

“Then something magic happened. Our striker closed the ball down and the goalkeeper tried to hit it away. 

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“He kicked it out of the penalty area and there was Yankuba. 

“He ran on to the ball and, I can remember like it was yesterday, I said to myself: ‘What’s going to happen now? The ball could go in the coffee shop because the first three touches were so bad.’ 

“He took a touch and then put it into the net. The stadium goes crazy amok and we win the game 2-1. 

“Because of this goal, by 10 minutes after the game, everyone in Denmark knew about Yankuba.”

Minteh progressed so well that Newcastle were among those to approach Odense about a January 2023 deal.

The club resisted, wanting the winger to help them avoid relegation.

But in the summer Newcastle beat off competition from Brighton to sign the 18 year old for £6m.

Minteh, unable to get a work permit, was immediately loaned to Feyenoord where he made the step up look easy.

He provided 11 goals and six assists for the Dutch club, but Newcastle reluctantly sold him to Brighton in June as they scrambled to meet Premier League financial rules.

Minteh, who recently married, has already been impressive for the Seagulls but has promised there is much more to come.

Bojang said: “I spoke to him a few days ago about the Premier League and not to think about the high expectations from people in Gambia who want him to score 10 goals in every game.

“He said to me, ‘Baks, you always worry too much.’

“He told me: ‘You haven’t seen anything from me yet. As soon as I get used to the tempo and physicality, you will see what I can do in the Premier League.’

“Nothing he does on the pitch surprises me anymore.

“Everything that is happening now he told me he would do, even before he came to Europe.”