Welcome to the summer transfer window Newcastle United; and Brighton & Hove Albion for that matter. Yankuba Minteh is scheduled to undergo his Brighton medical, on Sunday morning after Newcastle agreed to sell the 19-year-old. The Gambian winger moves over on a deal worth £33 million.
At least we’re going to get closure now, on what has been a strange saga, wrapped up inside a wild 24 hours.
Lyon had submitted an offer of about £40m for Minteh, and Newcastle accepted. However, the player himself shot it down because he wanted to stay in the Premier League. Everton were said to be interested, so that looked like a potential destination for him (More on that here).
Newcastle have to make some player sales this summer, in order to address their serious Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) problems. According to iNews, Newcastle “were understood to be risking a breach and potential points deduction without sales.”
So getting Minteh off the books for some cash back will certainly help.
They also explored the idea of selling Anthony Gordon to Liverpool, but that has since fallen apart (More on that here).
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.