Just four years ago, Yankuba Minteh was playing top-flight football in The Gambia, living with his parents and sleeping on their floor, squeezed beside his seven siblings in Serekunda.
Serekunda is the largest city in The Gambia, located just at eight miles south west of the capital, Banjul.
It is named after "Sayer Jobe", a Senegalese settler, with "kunda" meaning "home" in Mandinka (a language mainly spoken in Western Africa countries such as The Gambia, Senegal and Guinea).
Nowadays, Serekunda is known for being the country's main urban hub, having a central role for trade, transport and culture.
Fast forward to today and the 20-year-old is one of the Premier League’s brightest emerging stars.
But behind the electric winger we see lighting up the pitch each weekend for Brighton & Hove Albion is a young man who has fought tooth and nail to give his family a better life.
“Everyone saw him as a talented kid from a very young age,” recalls Abdou Touray, Minteh’s childhood coach in the video “Homemade”, which tracks Minteh’s journey from his Gambian roots to the global stage. “His success in football today doesn’t surprise anyone."
Still, the story of rising talent is about far more than natural ability. It’s a story of unshakable belief. In the emotional video, Minteh opens up about the hardships behind the dream.
“I just kept believing in myself,” Minteh says. “I trained three times a day, every single day. It was really hard.”
Moving away from home
While laying the foundations of a future in European football, Minteh was also dealing with tough living conditions. At just 16, he took a life-altering leap, leaving the African continent to chase his dream abroad, going to Denmark.
“It was difficult, being so young and without your parents,” he says. “You’re always around them, and then suddenly, you’re on your own. But my mentality has always been, ‘I must win.’ That’s all I had in my head.”
In October 2024, against Tottenham Hotspur, Minteh scored his first Premier League goal. It was a symbol of every early morning and every ounce of effort finally paying off.
“I felt so happy, but emotional too,” says Mustapha, Yankuba’s brother. “Our mum was crying. She’s proud of him.”
That pride is deeply rooted. From the start, his mother, Jassey, has been his greatest motivation.
“He used to tell me he would become a footballer, and that my struggles as a market trader would end," she recalls.
Yankuba kept that promise. He relocated his family to a better home, a moment filled with emotion for his mother, who fought back tears of joy as she reflected on how far they’ve come.
A national hero
Today, Minteh isn’t just a star in his family, he’s a national hero in The Gambia. Children wear Brighton shirts with his name on the back, dreaming of following in his footsteps and lifting their own families out of hardship.
When he heard his mother speak about everything she had endured, Minteh couldn’t hold back his tears.
“Whenever I see my mum cry, I get emotional. Knowing how she lived, the sacrifices she made, it’s just crazy.”
As his journey in English football continues, Minteh’s story reminds us that talent can start a career, but love, sacrifice and resilience are what truly shape greatness.
