According to reports on Friday night, Brighton are now leading the race to sign Newcastle United winger Yankuba Minteh.
Mark Douglas at the i reveals that the Seagulls have stepped up their interest in the 19-year-old and have held talks over a £30m deal; a move that would allow Newcastle to comply with the Premier League’s PSR rules before the June 30 cut-off.
It’s believed Everton, Borussia Dortmund and Lyon have also shown serious interest, but it’s the South Coast club who are the new favourites to land the Gambian, who is likely to be keen on the move given his wish to play in the Premier League.
One concern highlighted in Douglas’ Friday-night piece is that Brighton are unlikely to agree on a deal that includes a buy-back clause for Newcastle. This would limit our ability to re-sign the winger if he impressed at the Amex, but desperate times call for desperate measures, it seems.
Sadly, we’ve left it late and are unlikely to risk a points deduction or transfer ban, so a reluctant sale to Brighton might be our only option if there’s no other preferrable sale on the horizon.
We said in our last piece on Isak/Chelsea that this felt like a smokescreen to ease the blow that was coming. Now a story on Minteh to Brighton has emerged minutes later, it does make you think…
