Data: Do Yankuba Minteh’s strengths outweigh his weaknesses?

Written on 21/08/2026, hours after Liverpool had a £50m bid rejected for Minteh

When Yan Diomandé decided not to entertain the interest from Liverpool and eventually moved to Real Madrid, I wrote a piece on six alternate options the Reds could look at to bolster their winger department, both on the left and on the right. Yankuba Minteh was one of the names mentioned (you can go through that article and the other options here). To be fair, the Gambian international has been on the club’s radar for more than two years now.

Fast forward a number of weeks, and we have had news that the Reds had a bid of £50m rejected by Brighton and Hove Albion for the 22-year-old winger. Reporter Andy Naylor, who covers Brighton for The Athletic, feels that this could be a deal that ends up happening in Liverpool’s favour. So, we could still expect Minteh to move to Anfield before the end of this transfer window, even though he is currently injured and ruled out until the end of October (he suffered the injury during a pre-season game earlier this month).

This article focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of the player, what he could offer Liverpool if he signs, and the idea around the changing setup of the Reds’ attack following the departure of Mohamed Salah.

We start by looking at the 22-year-old’s percentile ranks against Premier League forwards and wingers for the 2025/26 season.

The player’s profile is clearly retrievable by looking at the bar chart above. There isn’t much there in the shooting metrics, be it in terms of chance conversion or getting into good positions. He takes shots from very unprofitable zones and does most of his best work outside the box, even though he was in the 89th percentile for touches in the opposition box last season.

Moving on, Minteh was above the 80th percentile in expected assists, open-play chances created, crosses attempted into the box, dribbles attempted and dribble success rate. He was also in that echelon for carries, the proportion of carries that were progressive and average progressive carrying distance. You can see why he does most of his best work outside the box.

Being only at the 44th percentile for chance-ending carry proportion shows that he could do better in terms of having his carries lead to chances more often, considering his overall chance creation numbers are relatively high.

He was also in the 97th percentile for top speed (36.2 km/h) and the 98th percentile for high-speed sprints per 90 (20.83). An electric player who could be a great supporting option from the right-wing position.

Next up, we take a look at his Premier League performances with the help of event data visuals. The coverage will not only focus on last season (2025/26), but also on the 2024/25 campaign, to gain a better understanding of the type of player he is and the zones he prefers to operate in. He has played a total of 66 league games for Brighton in that period.

We start with the touch map.

Out of the 66 appearances he made in the league over the last two seasons, 55 came as a right winger and 10 from the left. So, the 22-year-old is a left-footed winger who is much more comfortable operating on the other side. He can do a job on the left as well, if required.

If we focus on the right-wing side of the touch map, you can see a bulk of actions executed just outside the box or around its edge. Even though being a left footer playing on the right means coming inside would be natural to him, he prefers to move away from that angle bias and play more of a supporting role.

Next up, we have the type of runs he makes before receiving the ball in the final third and beyond.

The Gambian international does love long, bursting off-the-ball runs, and he has the pace to make those in-behind runs while looking to get at the end of the long balls from midfield or one of the centre-backs (these are also called deep runs).

In terms of their nature, it is not surprising that, even from the right-hand side, quite a few of these runs are towards the byline, either inside or outside the box, with a few mixed in around the half-space outside the box. This is almost a perfect illustration of a pacy winger who isn’t shy about making deep runs on a regular basis.

The doubt is whether he will have the space to make those runs for a Liverpool side that comes up against deep-defending teams quite regularly. Perhaps not. But the nature of the Reds’ game is expected to change under Andoni Iraola this season, meaning there could be room for a winger of this kind after all.

Following on from that, we have the chance creation map, followed by the take-on (dribble) map, what he does after completing a dribble, progressive carries, passing connections, and an analysis of his shot map and why the numbers in that area of his game are pear-shaped. Is there a caveat behind them?

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