Yankuba Minteh is doing his hopes of a future at Premier League giants Newcastle United no harm with another scintillating Eredivisie performance in the colours of Feyenoord.
Santiago Gimenez may have hogged the headlines after firing a hat-trick past Excelsior on Saturday but, as far as the Mexican marksman is concerned, the performance of Yankuba Minteh should not be allowed to go under the radar.
The Newcastle United winger, who joined the Eredivisie champions on loan over the summer, set up one of Gimenez’s three goals over the weekend, striking fear into the heart of the Excelsior backline with his devastating combination of searing pace and eye-catching end-product.
Newcastle loanee Yankuba Minteh getting better and better
“Minteh is great. He is very fast,” Gimenez tells ESPN. “90 per cent of the time, he wins in one-on-one situations. You have to be ready in the box (for him to deliver).”
After a brief spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, Minteh was back in Arne Slot’s XI for the first time in a month. The 19-year-old Gambia international is now averaging a goal or an assist every other Eredivisie game for the Rotterdam giants.
And, post-match, Slot was keen to highlight the role director Dennis te Kloese played in one of the summer’s most inspired acquisitions.
“I especially have to give Dennis te Kloese a pat on the back,” Slot smiles (Voetbal International). “For the fact that he gave me a winger like Yankuba Minteh.”
Shining in Eredivisie
Newcastle paid around £6 million to sign Minteh from Danish outfit Odense Boldklub in June before sending him out on loan to the Netherlands. Magpies boss Eddie Howe admitted back in October that he had been ‘really pleased’ by Minteh’s Eredivisie impact, though it remains to be seen if a first-team berth can be secured in a Newcastle side containing such talents of Miguel Almiron, Anthony Gordon and Jacob Murphy.
“He’s started really well. Really, really, really pleased,” Howe said. “Whenever a player goes on loan, the expectation is that they learn and develop their game. And he’s certainly learning and developing.
“He’s scoring goals, he’s playing in a good team, in a good league. So I’m really pleased.”
Gimenez, meanwhile, has 18 goals in just 16 games across 2023/24.
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