Yankuba Minteh Scout Report At Brighton 2025/2026: The Next Seagulls Star Under Fabian Hürzeler Tactics – Player Analysis

Brighton & Hove Albion is a club that exports an extraordinary amount of football talent to elite clubs after players elevated themselves playing for the Seagulls.

It tends to be the same for managers such as Graham Potter, Roberto de Zerbi, and now, Fabian Hürzeler.

Potter built the foundation and helped to get the club on its feet, but the two managers who came in after found it easy to build on that groundwork.

Tony Bloom’s project is a place for careers to thrive, as opposed to most of the other pressure-cooker environments in the league that hit the panic button after losing a few matches.

Think about the players that have come out of Brighton in seasons gone by: Moisés Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Alexis Mac Allister, Leandro Trossard, and João Pedro.

Brighton is a talent factory, and the players who go on to elite clubs are often successful.

The money invested back into the club from these signings is done astutely.

The point is that it’s extremely difficult to be a consistent Premier League club, and Brighton have thrived in this regard for years.

One such player who has been really catching everyone’s attention since arriving is Yankuba Minteh.

Signed as part of the 2024/2025 summer spending spree that included splurging £187m on players like Mats Wieffer, Georginio Rutter and Ferdi Kadıoğlu, amongst others, Yankuba Minteh has emerged as the showpiece signing.

If Minteh keeps going at his current rate, the club may once again have to decide whether to sell another prized asset.

But what is the Gambian International excelling at to ensure Hürzeler and his Brighton teammates aren’t missing João Pedro?

This Yankuba Minteh scout report and player analysis aims to answer that very question.

Yankuba Minteh Killer Crossing

It seems like most of the Premier League lacks out-and-out wingers these days.

The big number nine, long throw-ins, and long balls may be back in as tactical trends, but traditional wingers are still far away from being implemented in many teams.

Yankuba Minteh may be the exception.

The former Feyenoord winger has the special talent of taking men on and fooling them 1-v-1.

The key is that after dribbling past a player, he doesn’t frustrate or overdo it like other wingers often do.

In football, the essence of crossing may have dissipated a little.

The team in the Premier League with the deadliest header rarely cross the ball to him (Erling Haaland).

Minteh is proof that there is still huge value in getting a good crosser on the ball.

It’s a huge reason why Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United haven’t been successful: They possess only one good crosser of the ball up the pitch in Bryan Mbeumo.

For two of Brighton’s goals this season, Minteh has been 1-v-1 with a defender, making a yard for himself before crossing it into a dangerous area.

He hasn’t crossed it into a dangerous area aimlessly, however.

The crosses have been pinpointed into the six-yard area for a striker or for Brighton to flood the box.

When you see wingers on the touchline, the number of times they beat a man but mess up the action or decision just after is frustratingly high.

Yankuba Minteh knows that when the yard of space is made, he should look to get it into the box and aim for a Brighton head.

Both examples are essential to point out because one is a cross aimed at a specific player, namely Danny Welbeck, and the other is a cross in a crowded penalty area.

He takes a couple of ‘playing possum’ touches, as I like to call them, in which he moves at a normal pace with the ball but moves towards the defender.

Then, with one more touch, he increases his speed, and the cross comes immediately after.

The space is created because the defender doesn’t anticipate how quickly the touch after the ‘possum’ touches will be, and by that time, Yankuba Minteh is getting ready to whip the ball in.