PSR was not the only reason Newcastle United decided to sell Yankuba Minteh to Brighton

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Just over 12 months after signing for Newcastle United, Yankuba Minteh is going to make his St James’ Park debut on Saturday.

However, it will not be in the black and white of Newcastle United. Instead, he will be representing Brighton And Hove Albion.

Yankuba Minteh‘s presence on Tyneside will be a reminder of Newcastle’s PSR disaster, which resulted in Toon officials having to cash in on two of the Magpies’ brightest young stars.

Elliot Anderson was sold to Nottingham Forest for £35million, while Minteh joined Brighton for £33million.

There has been a lot of ‘what if’ surrounding Minteh. Newcastle fans were excited to see him play for the club, yet he was forced to leave for financial reasons. It was wildly disappointing, and he has since gone on to enjoy a bright start to his Premier League career.

Jamie Carragher has already said that Newcastle will regret selling Minteh, even if his departure was effectively enforced.

The two reasons why Newcastle sold Yankuba Minteh

While Newcastle had to sell Minteh in order to comply with profit and sustainability, that is not actually the only reason why the Magpies decided to cash in on the Gambia international.

According to the Daily Mail, there are two reasons why Newcastle United sold Minteh to Brighton during the summer transfer window.

The first reason was PSR, with Newcastle under strict instructions from PIF to avoid a points deduction. Simply put, there was no way the club could not comply with PSR, which is why even the idea of selling Anthony Gordon was floated.

But Newcastle instead decided to sacrifice Minteh, and the Daily Mail report that some of Newcastle’s senior members of staff were not convinced that the 20-year-old was the type of right winger that they needed.

Newcastle staff will hope Minteh does not prove them wrong

For context, Newcastle’s top attacking target over the summer was Michael Olise.

Olise was the winger that Eddie Howe wanted to bring to St James’ Park, but he opted to join Bayern Munich instead.

While Minteh has looked exciting in a Brighton shirt, he is a very different player to Olise. Minteh is much quicker and more direct, but very raw. His end product needs a lot of work, although he is capable of consistently getting into dangerous positions. In contrast, Olise is a lot more technical and creative.

After deciding to cash in, Newcastle officials will have their fingers crossed that Minteh does not embarrass them on his first appearance at St James’ Park. It will be up to Lewis Hall to stop Minteh, with the 20-year-old likely to play at left-back for Eddie Howe’s side.