Everton travel to Arsenal and the Emirates Stadium on Sunday for our latest Premier League clash and with ongoing concerns amongst the fanbase about the strength we have at the heart of defence, news that Yerry Mina has joined in with training this week has come as a massive boost to many.
The 23-year-old former Barcelona player made the switch for a reported £27million over the summer transfer window but having arrived with a foot injury, he is yet to feature for us.
The Colombian international’s return to training does potentially bring him into the mix for manager Marco Silva and whilst he’d be a welcome boost to our backline, I tend to agree with those on social media who feel this game comes too quickly given the time he’s already spent out this season – he last played competitively for his country in their defeat to England at the World Cup.
Start him! We aren’t gettin nothing out of Sunday IMO, a prem match will help get him up to speed. #Mina
— stephen o`connor (@steph_oc84) September 19, 2018
B
— Mark Hartley (@MHartley93) September 19, 2018
C – wonder why he’s still not fit and wonder why we signed a load of crocks for a Kings ransom?
— Clements (@clements2016) September 19, 2018
We simply cant start him. Risk is too great and would be as stupid as Allardyce starting Mangala against Arsenal last year.
— Mel '73 (@melbourne1973) September 20, 2018
A who cares about the league Cup
— Blueboy80 (@Blueboy802) September 19, 2018
We tried something like that last year and had lost the game after 30 mins,
— Tim williams (@Toffee84Tim) September 21, 2018
Personally I wouldn’t start him Sunday, too soon to be thrown in at the prem deep end against Arsenal. Let him start the cup game midweek…
— Aide Dews (@AidyDews) September 21, 2018
Yes ????????????
— Kai Kohler (@kai_kohler) September 21, 2018
Next Saturday’s clash against Fulham at Goodison Park feels a far more likely game for Mina to make his debut in for me as the best we can maybe expect from Sunday is that he gets some minutes under his belt towards the end of the game to give him that top-flight introduction. Maybe Fulham becomes the 30-45 minute run out though and we consider the EFL Cup against Southampton for his full debut, but I can’t imagine Silva would wait that long (October 2) before bringing him in – especially if defensive issues persist this weekend.