Brighton set to be without Yankuba Minteh for 2-3 months with injury

Brighton & Hove Albion are expecting to be without Yankuba Minteh for between two and three months due to a right leg injury.

It is unclear at this stage whether the damage sustained by the Gambia international winger during Saturday’s 3-0 friendly win against Roma at the Amex Stadium will require surgery.

But there are no plans to sign a replacement for Minteh in the rest of the summer transfer window, as the 22-year-old will be back in autumn.

Minteh had lengthy treatment and tried to return to the action after he was hurt challenging for the ball with Roma captain Bryan Cristante early in the second half, but it became apparent immediately that he could not continue.

The injury leaves Fabian Hurzeler without both of his first choice wingers, as left-winger Kaoru Mitoma is still recovering from hamstring surgery which ruled him out of this summer’s World Cup for Japan.

The 29-year-old has played no part in pre-season matches and there is no clear time date for his return.

What now on the flanks?

Minteh and Mitoma have been the go-to pairing for Hurzeler, featuring together in 45 league games across the past two seasons. Minteh has contributed nine goals and eight assists in 66 league outings over this period, Mitoma 13 goals and five assists in 61 matches. They are big numbers to lose.

There are still plenty of wingers in the squad, despite season-long loans out for Brajan Gruda back to Red Bull Leipzig (where he spent the second half of last season), Tommy Watson and Harry Howell to Leicester City in League One, plus Rodrigo Rego to Castellon in La Liga 2 in Spain after he was signed from Benfica in this summer’s window.

New arrival Zadok Johanna from Swedish side AIK for £21.8 million, Ibrahim Osman, Amario Cozier-Duberry and Nehemiah Oriola are all exciting young prospects in their teens or early 20’s, although they lack the proven Premier League pedigrees of Minteh and Mitoma.

The window does not close until September 1, but the the pool of wingers in Minteh’s absence still gives Hurzeler scope to rotate his line-ups to take account of competing in the Europa Conference League.

Brighton visit Norwegian side Tromso in the play-off round first leg of that competition on Thursday. That is followed by the opening fixture in the Premier League at home to Aston Villa three days later and the return leg against Tromso on August 27.