Yerry Mina was signed with so much promise on the back of an eye-catching World Cup, but his Everton future under Marco Silva is well and truly in the last chance saloon.
Sunday’s clash with Champions League-chasing Chelsea will likely see the Colombian return to the starting XI in place of Kurt Zouma, yet it is not down to the Frenchman’s inconsistent form but rather the simple fact that he is illegible to play against his parent side.
It was the reverse fixture, in fact, that Mina made his first Toffees start, and was fairly impressive at Stamford Bridge even if we did not utilise his aerial threat from set pieces.
There were a few errors to his game, as well, but at the time those could be forgiven as he had just overcome a lengthy foot injury, but the mistakes and injuries have sadly remained.
Mina’s now-regular trips to the treatment room has made his situation at Finch Farm somewhat of a mystery as he ghosts from teamsheet to teamsheet, making a measly eight Premier League starts since his debut in November.
We know the 24-year-old is fit again, at present, as he came off the bench in our defeat to Newcastle last weekend – replacing Richarlison with a quarter of an hour to go – so if he does not start against the Stamford Bridge outfit questions will have to be answered.
All of the negativity that surrounds Mina has easily made the upcoming Chelsea test a final chance for the centre-back to prove that he is not a flop and he can step up to the task on Merseyside, which is somewhat poetic coming against the side his Toffees career truly started against.
We all know that we ought to be seeing more from the man we signed from Barcelona for €30.25million (£25.8m), and Zouma’s contractual absence is giving the Colombian a platform to change opinions – we’ll see if he takes it.