Why Liverpool’s late move for Yankuba Minteh looks increasingly unlikely
We are not getting carried away by the Yankuba Minteh talk doing the rounds as deadline day reaches its final hours. Brighton’s Gambia international winger remains a name Liverpool have admired for months, and by all accounts his camp would still jump at the chance to move to Anfield today. The practical route to actually getting it done, though, looks narrower by the hour.
Gakpo staying changes the maths
The single biggest factor here is Cody Gakpo. With Liverpool having settled the question of his future by keeping him at the club, the financial logic behind stretching for an expensive winger addition weakens considerably. According to Ben Jacobs, Minteh’s camp are still hopeful of a deadline day breakthrough, but Liverpool’s own priorities appear to have shifted now that Gakpo is not making way.
That matters because any Minteh deal was always going to need a sale to make the numbers work cleanly, given Brighton’s asking price. Liverpool have already seen two offers knocked back, the second of those understood to be in the region of £60m, while Brighton have stood firm on wanting closer to £80m for a player still finding his feet at Premier League level. Without an obvious departure to offset that outlay, committing the full amount so late in the window becomes a much harder sell internally.
What a late offer would still need
Even if Liverpool wanted to push through a fresh bid in the closing hours, timing is now working against them. Deals of this size rarely get done from a standing start with only hours on the clock, and Brighton have shown no sign of shifting from their valuation throughout the window. Any late offer would likely need to already sit close to their number to have a realistic chance of being accepted before the deadline passes tonight.
A talent nobody at Anfield seems to doubt
None of this reflects badly on Minteh’s ability. He is quick, direct and exactly the sort of attacking option that would give Andoni Iraola’s side another way of hurting teams in behind. It is easy to see why there has been sustained interest from Liverpool’s recruitment staff, and why the player’s representatives are pushing so hard to get something over the line before the window shuts.
The issue has never really been about wanting him. It has been about value, timing and where he fits into a squad that already has plenty of competition in wide areas. Bradley Barcola’s arrival earlier in the window only adds to that picture, giving Iraola more attacking depth in the final third than Liverpool have had in some time.
Iraola will not lose sleep over how this looks from the outside either way. He inherited a squad already reasonably well stocked out wide, and adding Minteh was always a nice to have rather than a necessity. If the move collapses tonight, the more important story of the window remains Gakpo staying put and Barcola settling in quickly, both of which matter far more to how the season actually unfolds than one more winger arriving at the last minute.
Our view
Put simply, we think this one is drifting away rather than building towards a late twist. Deadline day has a habit of throwing up surprises in the final hour, so we would not rule anything out completely, but the more sensible read is that Minteh stays a Brighton player past tonight. Liverpool have shown restraint rather than panic, and there is something to like about that even if it means missing out on a player supporters have grown genuinely excited about.
If Brighton’s valuation softens in a future window, or Liverpool decide they are willing to meet it, this could easily resurface in January or next summer. For now, keeping Gakpo and holding firm on Minteh’s price both look like the right calls, even if it means an afternoon of nervously refreshing transfer news with no new name added to the winger slot.