There was a time where Yankuba Minteh was impressing so much at Feyenoord that Eddie Howe publicly mulled over bringing him back to Newcastle United in January.
That was, however, quickly put to bed by the Dutch press, who explained the Eredivisie side would have to give the green light for that, and it wasn’t that straightforward of an operation.
However, some time has passed since then, and while he is still young and learning, his outing in the Champions League midweek against Celtic left a bitter taste in the mouth of journalist Sjoerd Mossou, who told the AD Voetbal Podcast, relayed by Voetbal4U, how he really felt about the Newcastle man.
The loss to the Scottish team was deemed ‘disappointing and completely unnecessary’, and there was room to do more in the European competition than finish third in the group.
He felt the Champions League was also too big of a challenge for the squad currently at Slot’s disposal, with the Newcastle loanee an example of that.
Mossou said: “It’s also in there that you don’t have Champions League level players in every position. We also have to note that. Ivanusec and Minteh are of Conference League level, at least the level they are currently reaching. That is simply not enough and you have now lost points again.”