Everything Arne Slot said about Yankuba Minteh as Liverpool ready third bid

Arne Slot was a big supporter of Yankuba Minteh and may be partially behind Liverpool's interest this summer.

The Reds have had two bids rejected for the Brighton winger, with their latest £60million offer thought to be £10m short.

The 22-year-old has three years remaining on his contract with the Seagulls and is a key player for Fabian Hurzeler, but is expected to miss the opening months of the season after he was injured in a friendly.

Minteh scored three goals and provided four assists last season, and would likely fill the position left by Mohamed Salah on the right of the attack.

Liverpool have also targeted PSG winger Ibrahim Mbaye for the position, but are reportedly holding out for a mammoth fee that the Premier League side appear unwilling to pay.

Negotiations are also ongoing over a move for Bradley Barcola, with transfer chiefs at Anfield facing a similar issue in talks with the French champions.

Arne Slot was impressed with Yankuba Minteh

Minteh was originally signed by Newcastle United in 2023 for around £6m from Danish side Odense BK.

He was immediately loaned out to Feyenoord, where Slot was in charge at the time for what would be his final season in the Netherlands.

The winger was highly impressive in the Eredivisie, scoring 11 goals and providing five assists in just 27 appearances.

Minteh was slowed by a hamstring issue and the Africa Cup of Nations in mid-season, but exploded at the end of the campaign, claiming 10 direct goal contributions in his final 11 league games.

Speaking in March 2024, Slot said: "Yankuba Minteh has mainly played a lot in his native country, where very few tactics are involved. If you are that fast, it is a huge weapon.

"One action and he is gone, then you will not catch up with him again. I think that his choices are already improving in the final phase.

"The bad thing for us is that if his choices become really good, he will probably no longer play for us.”

Alas, Minteh did not, joining Brighton in a £33m deal upon his return and establishing himself among the Premier League's brightest young wingers.

Minteh's impressive stats under Slot

Slot is no longer manager of Liverpool, but in his place is a manager, Andoni Iraola, who has a track record of developing young players.

And the former Reds manager has certainly left his imprint on Minteh regardless, given how well he played under him.

In Eredivisie, the winger registered a staggering 0.72 expected goals on target per game, better than 98.3 per cent of the league.

Minteh also got a remarkable 3.45 shots away, created 1.66 chances and completed a stunning 3.63 successful dribbles per game.

He won 8.25 duels per game and took a staggering 11.4 touches in the opposition box, better than just 2.5 per cent of the league.

If Iraola can get Minteh to anywhere near that kind of level in the Premier League, Liverpool will be completing a stunning piece of business.