Newcastle United fans have, at this stage, accepted that the 2024 summer transfer window was one of survival, and survive the Magpies did.
Though top targets were not signed, the club’s most talented players, coveted though they were, were kept at St. James’ Park. Frustratingly, though, a right winger was not signed, something that still rankles even if fans have put the struggles behind them.
Miguel Almiron and Jacob Murphy jockey for purchase on the flank, but neither bear the kind of quality that aligns with Eddie Howe’s lofty visions.
Efforts were made to sign Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest in August, though the Tricky Trees shut down United’s £50m proposal on deadline day. Now, Howe’s attention has turned elsewhere.
Newcastle eyeing new right winger
According to a recent update from Football Insider, Bournemouth are hoping to collect around £50m for the sale of Antoine Semenyo in 2025, with Newcastle joined by Tottenham Hotspur in their interest.
Semenyo swept up Bournemouth’s Player and Goal of the Month awards earlier this week as he continues his red-hot start to the season, only furthering the argument that his skillset is tailor-made for a starring role under Howe’s wing.
Whether the Cherries are able to maintain such demands remains to be seen, but the “very intelligent player”, as described by analyst Ben Mattinson, has been brilliant under Andoni Iraola, posting three goals and an assist across eight Premier League appearances in 2024/25.
Football Insider hold the belief that £50m might be a stretch too steep for suitors like the Magpies, and they must be rueing a sale for a player who already carries many of the 24-year-old’s properties in the up-and-coming Yankuba Minteh.
Howe has already sold his own Semenyo
The shadow of financial repercussions loomed over Tyneside this summer, and cashing in on the 20-year-old Minteh – whom talent scout Jacek Kulig has dubbed a “jewel” – was recognised as a sure-fire way to escape from danger.
Brighton & Hove Albion won the race, signing the electric-paced winger in a deal worth £30m, with Newcastle turning quite the profit for a player who had never kicked a ball in black and white.
Signed from Danish side Odense Boldklub in July 2023 for about £6m, Minteh was loaned out to Arne Slot’s Feyenoord last term and caught the eye, notching 16 goal contributions across 26 matches.
Given that analyst and BBC contributor Raj Chohan has praised Minteh’s “Vinicius quality” ball skills, it’s clear that Newcastle might have made a fatal error, particularly as FBref deem him to be a similar player to Semenyo, among those in Europe’s top five leagues.
The £40k-per-week star’s defensive prowess and pacy quality, allowing him to lance through opposing defensive lines, mirrors that of Semenyo, and when comparing the players’ metrics across the past year, you can see that the wingers are indeed strikingly similar.
Goals scored
0.29
0.35
Assists
0.15
0.11
Shot-creating actions
3.06
3.25
Progressive carries
3.93
3.68
Successful take-ons
2.62
2.02
Tackles + interceptions
2.62
1.41
Blocks
1.46
1.87
Aerial duels won
2.05
1.17
One thing’s for certain: either player would mark an upgrade on Almiron, who has been linked with a move away from Newcastle for most of the year and, aged 30, has fallen by the wayside.
Four substitute appearances in the Premier League this season speak of his diminished role, and though the industrious Murphy offers balance and energy, there are myriad upgrades that could be welcomed to the city – one of them being Minteh.
Surely there was another way to circumvent PSR problems, one that didn’t require the sale of the club’s biggest talent, hailed for his “special” qualities by one Danish scout.
Maybe Newcastle will succeed in their venture to sign Semenyo, but they might have let go of their own version, one who could far outstrip the Bournemouth winger, in Minteh, now residing on the South Coast.
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