Yankuba Minteh gave the diplomatic answer Brighton fans wanted to hear.

Asked about the collapsed summer move to Liverpool in a video shared by Gambian journalist Fodah Manneh, the 22-year-old winger kept his lines short and pointed everything back to his current club.

“I am focused. I am in Brighton. That is the team I am playing for. That is my team and I don’t want to talk much about transfers. What God has decided for me, I am happy with it.”

He has not kicked a competitive ball for Brighton this season. A foot injury sustained in a pre-season friendly against Roma on 8 August has kept him out, and his own timeline on getting back was equally clipped: “Very soon, very soon.”

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Add in the eagerness to help, and the public message from the player himself was one of acceptance.

“I am really, really eager to come back and help my team because they are doing good at the moment but if I come back, I will do my best to help them.”

The Liverpool wish, according to an insider

The private picture, according to Gambian football journalist Baboucarr Fallaboweh, is a very different one.

“I think Liverpool. He will still want to go to Liverpool. Depending on [how] Liverpool will activate that desire to still have him.”

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Fallaboweh also flagged the possibility of a rival Premier League move if Liverpool cool their interest, telling Sport Witness that Manchester United “can come banging on their doors” as an alternative destination.

Brighton’s £80m stance holds

The summer standoff was simple on paper. Brighton put an £80m valuation on the winger, and Liverpool’s approaches, reported to have reached up to £60m, never got close to that number.

Brighton head coach Fabian Hürzeler has since left the door ajar for January, suggesting the Anfield deal might have gone through in the summer had the foot injury not derailed the closing stages of the window.

Whether Liverpool return with a bigger offer, whether Manchester United make it a two-club race, and whether Brighton hold firm on their valuation are the three moving parts once the winter market opens on 1 January 2027.

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When Liverpool supporters could see him next

Local reporting suggests Brighton are hoping to have Minteh available for the trip to Sunderland on 10 October, straight after the international break. The next Anfield sighting would then follow when Brighton visit Liverpool later in October.

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