Yankuba Minteh's Dream Move Awaits After Brighton Success

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler insists Yankuba Minteh can still chase his “dream” move one day – but only after helping the Seagulls hit new heights.

Liverpool saw bids of £50m and £60m knocked back for the 22-year-old winger in the recent transfer window, as Andoni Iraola pushed to add more firepower out wide. Brighton held firm. The south-coast club were understood to want closer to £70m for the Gambia international, who arrived from Newcastle for £30m in 2024.

For now, Minteh stays. And Hurzeler wants full focus on the Amex, not Anfield.

“If the whole team is successful and the individual shines then Yankuba will get a lot of attention again and he can then maybe fulfil his dream in the next transfer window,” Hurzeler said before Brighton’s Premier League clash with Leeds.

That line says plenty. Brighton are not pretending the player has no ambitions beyond Sussex. They are simply setting the terms: perform here, earn your move there.

Minteh has become a key part of that plan. Operating mainly off the right, he has scored 10 goals and produced nine assists in 73 appearances for Brighton, numbers that explain why Liverpool were prepared to go so high for a player still sharpening the edges of his game.

Hurzeler, though, is adamant there is no sulking and no split loyalties after the failed move to Merseyside.

“He wears the Brighton colours, he wears the Brighton badge. He has been with us for two years now as part of the squad. He has achieved great things together with the boys,” the German said, stressing that Minteh is “definitely” committed.

Then came the challenge.

“It’s also about him now to commit. In the end, we always say we want to be successful as a club and then you can shine as individuals.

“That is what we have proved in the past. If we achieve things together, the attention will come to the individual players and that will be the case also this season.”

Brighton have built their modern era on exactly that promise: buy young, develop, showcase, sell big. Minteh is the latest in that production line, but Hurzeler’s message is clear. Any dream move can wait. The next few months are about what he does in blue and white, not what might have been in red.