Background

ESPN recently rated Barcelona defender Yerry Mina to Everton as a 45% likelihood which is basically no different than you telling a friend ‘maybe he will, maybe he won’t’, and Mina’s agent has come out to say that he has not signed for Everton which um... yeah we kind of all noticed that already. All in all, not a lot of movement, not a lot of progress.

However, a long list of reports have linked Sevilla defender Clement Llenget to the Catalonian club, and that could be the most helpful piece of information in the Mina saga. As long as Barcelona do not have a replacement depth CB on board, they are not going to move Yerry Mina anywhere. If the Llenget news becomes official, look for movement on the Colombian defender in very short order as clubs try to shore up their squads after a World Cup shortened summer.

Barcelona also want Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo to replace Paulinho who has gone back to Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande, so shipping out Mina to clear a non-EU spot is not an immediate need.

Player Profile

Scoring three World Cup goals is enough to make anyone’s eyes pop out of their heads, but we shouldn’t get too far ahead of ourselves. Mina is not that good a defender. That’s not to say he couldn’t start for Everton, or that he would be a bad signing, I just wouldn’t want you to see ‘FC Barcelona’ and ‘Three World Cup goals’ and think we’re bringing in Carlos Puyol or anything (actually, who am I kidding? Puyol didn’t have three World Cup goals in his entire life).

The Liverpool Echo have a neat little story about Mina too, and why he might step onto the hallowed turf of Goodison Park in bare feet if and when he signs for the Blues.

Everton Angle

As we reported previously, La Liga’s non-EU player rules are at play here. Sending Paulinho back to China relieves Barcelona of one non-EU spot (they have three total) but there’s a real question here of whether they really want to use one on a depth player. This works in Everton’s favor.

Everton’s history with Barcelona also works in our favor, as the Gerard Deulofeu deal could provide a blueprint for the 23-year-old Colombian, with a buyback clause or something similar in place.

I honestly think that when Barcelona gets an EU defender, probably Llenget, in the fold they’ll move Mina, and I think we are well positioned to be the team that lands him if we are so inclined. I’m not against the transfer even though I’m not desperate for it either. It would be a shrewd move if the numbers are right.