Yerry Mina has rarely been seen at Goodison Park since his summer switch from Catalunya, and it could be a while yet before we see the Colombian in action again.
The former Barcelona defender has spent more than his fair share of time at Finch Farm working with the medical team to get fit enough to fight for a spot in Marco Silva’s side, but he appeared to pick up a hamstring strain while away with his country.
An attempted clearance by Mina saw the towering 6 ft 3 centre-back swing his boot wildly towards the ball, but fail to make contact and end the motion sitting on the ground clutching his left hamstring.
Of course, some of his time out of the side has been down to the foot injury he brought with him from the summer, but another blow will be annoying given how well he dealt with Chelsea in our 2-0 win prior to the international break.
Potentially losing Mina to another injury has even got fans on the Grand Old Team forum talking, especially after BillLovesRoo shared a breakdown of other centre-backs who have missed Premier League games in recent years.
“None of these centre-halves have had a perfect record injury-wise,” he noted. “But at times have shown they can go a full season. Can easily just be a blip and bad luck:
“Van Dijk – Missed 17 league games of ’16/17 & missed 12 games of ’17/18 season
“Alderweireld – Missed eight league games of ’16/17 & missed 14 league games of ’17/18 season
“Vertonghen – Missed 15 games of ’13/14 season & missed nine games of ’15/16 season
“John Stones – Missed 20 games of ’17/18 season & missed 11 so far this season.”
When some of you took note of BillLovesRoo’s breakdown, this is what you had to say…
“Not complaining about Mina here, but those figures are not comparable because you’ve just looked at how many games they actually played, not whether they were injured. Stones hasn’t missed 11 games through injury this year, Van Dijk missed most of those games last year because he was in dispute with Southampton etc. Also, the two Spurs players are widely considered injury prone now by their fans.” – Lanolin (March 27, 11:05)
“Mina came to us injured, after playing long into the World Cup and without a preseason. Hopefully, this summer he can have a proper break, come back rested and fit and next season will give us a better idea about what kind of player we really have.” – BlueBlue (March 27, 11:39)
“Copa America though” – Stannyr (March 27, 11:43)
“I really like the look of Mina, he’s mostly impressed when he’s been on with two very impressive performances against Chelsea. I will admit that his fitness is beginning to concern me, every time he puts in a solid performance he immediately gets a layoff. Hopefully, he can finally get himself to consistent fitness over the end of this season and next pre-season and put together a proper run in the side, because I really think he can be our colossus at the back.” – ValBlue (March 27, 12:50)
“Because he was Injured when we got him?” – 4737Carlin (March 27, 13:17)
“The old Richarlison/Watford theory” – Havre0123 (March 27, 13:21)
“He’s had injuries. Players get injuries. Not all players who have a spell of injuries should be bolted in the back of the head and made into glue.” – Tez (March 27, 13:23)
“You don’t not sign a player you’ve chased for ages just because he has an injury. How were we to know he’d keep picking up injuries throughout the season? And, in fact, I’d say he looks clearly our best centre-back actually.” – Mikeh72 (March 27, 14:46)