Brighton expect to be without Yankuba Minteh for two to three months after right leg injury | OneFootball

Brighton & Hove Albion expect to be without Yankuba Minteh for two to three months after the winger suffered a right leg injury in the 3-0 friendly win against Roma at the Amex Stadium.

According to NY Times, it is unclear at this stage whether surgery will be required. There are no plans to sign a replacement during the remainder of the summer window, with the 22-year-old expected back in autumn.

Minteh received lengthy treatment and attempted to continue after a challenge with Roma captain Bryan Cristante early in the second half, but it quickly became clear he could not carry on.

The setback leaves Fabian Hurzeler without both first-choice wingers, as Kaoru Mitoma is still recovering from hamstring surgery that ruled him out of this summer’s World Cup for Japan. The 29-year-old has missed pre-season and there is no clear return date.

Minteh and Mitoma have been Hurzeler’s preferred pairing, featuring together in 45 league matches over the past two seasons. Minteh has nine goals and eight assists in 66 league outings in that time, Mitoma 13 goals and five assists in 61.

Despite season-long loans for Brajan Gruda back to Red Bull Leipzig, Tommy Watson and Harry Howell to Leicester City in League One, and Rodrigo Rego to Castellon in La Liga 2 in Spain after signing from Benfica, Brighton still have options out wide. New signing Zadok Johanna from Swedish side AIK for £21.8 million, plus Ibrahim Osman, Amario Cozier-Duberry and Nehemiah Oriola, are highly rated youngsters who lack Premier League experience.

The window does not close until September 1, and the remaining winger pool gives Hurzeler scope to rotate for Europa Conference League duties. Brighton visit Norwegian side Tromso in the play-off round first leg on Thursday, then host Aston Villa three days later before the return leg on August 27.

Source: NY Times

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”