It was fitting for Yankuba Minteh to win the game for Brighton & Hove Albion at Sunderland in freakish fashion.
“This is one of the craziest goals of the season,” the unpredictable winger’s team-mate Mats Wieffer told reporters after Saturday’s 1-0 victory at the Stadium of Light. “It was a really ugly goal, but we are happy with it. He miskicked it completely, but it went in.”
The manner of Minteh’s goal and the Gambia international’s performance in his first start of the year was indicative of his style. He is hard to fathom. Expect the unexpected when he is on the pitch.
Minteh completely fooled Sunderland goalkeeper Melker Ellborg when he took on Granit Xhaka on the right-hand side of the penalty area, with the home side distracted by Habib Diarra lying on the floor and seemingly hurt inside his own box.
Xhaka grabbed at Minteh but took his arm away quickly enough to avoid giving away a penalty. Minteh stumbled into the ball and squirted in a cross with his right foot. Jan Paul van Hecke smartly removed himself from its path as it snuck past the bemused Ellborg at his near post.
What a finish from Yankuba! 😅 Highlights in partnership with @MPBcom. 📺🤝 pic.twitter.com/bKSItNKx57
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) March 14, 2026
Statistical evidence highlights how difficult Minteh is to weigh up. On the one hand, it was only his second goal of the season, ending a scoreless run in the league spanning 20 appearances after hitting the target in a 2-2 home draw against Tottenham Hotspur in September.
On the other hand, Minteh has more goal involvements than any other player aged 21 and under since joining Brighton from Sunderland’s north-east neighbours Newcastle United for £30million before the start of last season — 16 in total via eight goals and eight assists.
“People forget he is still only 21 years old,” said Wieffer, who also played with Minteh at Feyenoord under now-Liverpool manager Arne Slot after Minteh was immediately sent out on loan to the Dutch club in his year at Newcastle in 2023-24. “He is quick, so for every full-back it’s a nightmare if he is in form. Hopefully, he can continue like this.”
Wieffer is speaking from experience of what it is like to be facing Minteh as a defender, having been converted by Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler from a midfielder into an effective right-back after signing from Feyenoord for £25m in July 2024.
“When he came (to Feyenoord), he was still a young player and he had to adapt,” Wieffer says. “The first half (of the season) was a little bit up and down, the second half he was really good.
“He has loads of qualities. His decision-making is better than it was before. He struggles (with that) sometimes, because he has a lot of pace, to find the free players. He has improved it a lot since he came here (to Brighton).”
Minteh’s display at Sunderland was a microcosm of his strange season. He was Brighton’s best player in the early part of the campaign, compensating on the right wing for the absence on the left of Kaoru Mitoma with an ankle injury, which ruled out the Japan international from the end of September to mid-December.
Minteh amassed 124 touches inside the opposition’s box in the first half of the season, the highest number of any player in the Premier League. He had one more touch than Erling Haaland, although the Manchester City marksman’s 19 goals and four assists in 17 league appearances heavily outweighed one goal and four assists for Minteh over the same number of games.
Minteh cannot be expected to compete with a lethal No 9 like Haaland, but his end product has substantial room for improvement. Only Haaland’s Manchester City team-mate Jeremy Doku had made more ball carries into the penalty area (63) than Minteh (61) before the Sunderland game. Doku, also a winger, provides a better comparison. The Belgian had one goal and six assists over 21 appearances, the same number of goals and two assists more than Minteh’s tally over an extra four outings.
Minteh should have another assist, too. An inviting cross gave Jack Hinshelwood a chance to give Hurzeler’s side an early lead from close range at Sunderland, but Ellborg stuck out a leg to foil Hinshelwood.
Minteh put in an encouraging display at the Stadium of Light on Saturday (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
A downturn for Minteh started with a thigh injury sustained in a 2-2 draw at West Ham at the end of 2025. That ruled him out for two matches and versatile Paraguayan Diego Gomez has been a capable replacement on the right. Minteh returned from that injury with five substitute appearances. He was then unused by Hurzeler for two matches before replacing the again-injured Mitoma for the second half in the recent 1-0 home defeat by Arsenal.
Mitoma’s continued absence at Sunderland — expected to only be short-term — gave Minteh an opportunity again. Hurzeler has been concerned about his defensive work, with some justification, based on a mad three minutes deep into the second half at Sunderland. Minteh skied a clearance inside his own box. He had cause to be grateful to Bart Verbuggen for shovelling away an ensuing header from Omar Alderete which prevented an equaliser.
Minteh was booked a minute later for a petulant shove on Luke O’Nien after he was nutmegged close to the touchline by the Sunderland substitute. He was in danger of a red card when he fouled Chris Rigg shortly afterwards. Hurzeler sensibly replaced Minteh immediately, bringing on Maxim De Cuyper after 76 minutes.
Minteh celebrates at the end of a victory that keeps Brighton’s European dreams alive (George Wood/Getty Images)
“He didn’t do a dramatic action,” Hurzeler said during his media briefing after the match. “It was a yellow card and afterwards we needed to protect him. The thing we have to work with him is to keep doing unpredictable things offensively and keeping more reliable defensively, doing the easy things right in our half.
“He has understood more and more what is needed, to not only be a creative player offensively but also to be there for the team. He is going through a very interesting process and I am really happy with how he is doing it. When you have tough moments, you also want a really positive experience. That goal should give him another boost, confirmation that he is on the right way, and now we have to keep working with him.
“He was involved in a lot of offensive actions, created danger by attacking the box, early crosses. If Jack had used the first chance more effectively, Yankuba would have had an assist. It’s not only about scoring, it’s about creating danger over and over again. That’s what he showed. I am not judging him by goals, I am judging him by how he is involved in our offensive actions and how he is working defensively.”
Hurzeler and Minteh will not care about how a third win in four matches was secured to lift Brighton above Sunderland on goal difference in mid-table. Liverpool are next at the Amex Stadium on Saturday. Part of the attraction of Minteh is that neither Hurzeler nor Slot will really know what to expect.