Former Newcastle United man gets near-perfect rating as WhoScored? Team of the Week announced

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Newcastle United had no current squad members represented in the WhoScored? Team of the Week this week. Although, if they did a Razzie equivalent, we'd probably have taken up all eleven spots.

Newcastle United didn't even turn up to face Manchester City on Saturday as Pep Guardiola's side ghosted through the starting XI and roared into a 3-0 lead by half time thanks to a hat-trick from reported Newcastle target Omar Marmoush.

City added a fourth late in the second half, where Newcastle were slightly improved thanks to the introductions of Lewis Miley and Tino Livramento at half time.

But while the current crop of Toon players struggled, a former Magpie had already sealed his place in the Team of the Week.

Brighton battered Chelsea on Friday night and it was their £33 million summer signing from Newcastle who stole the shows scoring two goals in the process.

Yankuba Minteh, who never even took to the pitch in a Newcastle shirt following his £5 million move in Summer 2023, spent his first season on loan at Feyenoord where he caught the eye of Newcastle fans.

However, the Magpies were in a deep financial hole thanks to PSR and ultimately sold Minteh to Brighton before he'd even made an appearance for Newcastle.

Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler deployed Minteh at right wing-back, which is where WhoScored? has placed him in their Team of the Week with an astounding score of 9.95/10.

"With a WhoScored rating of 9.95, Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh is our Premier League Player of the Week following a sensational display in Friday night’s win over Chelsea at the Amex Stadium. Minteh, deployed as a right wing-back by Fabian Hurzeler, scored his fourth and fifth league goals of the campaign, while also making the most key passes (3) and tackles (4) of any player on the pitch."

We hate crying over former players when they do something good elsewhere, it's a futile response. Plus, we'll never know whether Minteh could have adapted to our style of play. Chris Wood is the perfect example of a player being bang average at Newcastle but outstanding elsewhere. Minteh could have struggled at Newcastle for years before leaving and his career going nowhere, but the move to Brighton has worked out well for him.

However, on a weekend where we were so dire, seeing the one that got away doing so well is a kick in the teeth.