Yerry Mina reportedly set to face Arsenal

After a huge summer outlay, it will be good to finally see Yerry Mina make his Everton debut.

According to the Daily Mail, Mina was in full training on Thursday, and if he and Richarlison can both make their way into the XI, two facets of the game will receive serious boosts over what we saw at West Ham (thank goodness.)

The athletic defender has a knack in front of goal which should pair marvelously with set piece wizard Gylfi Sigurdsson, so as much as his defensive skillset will be a boost against Arsenal’s talented forwards, his contributions offensively may be even more important.

All three of Mina’s World Cup goals were set piece headers, and Gylfi is at his best when he has a gifted target man in the box on set pieces. Combined with Richarlison’s extensive offensive abilities, Mina’s return improves our hopes for a positive result.

In addition, Mina succeeded in 83% of his attempted tackles for Barcelona in La Liga last season, which is a very good rate. A central defender that improves both offensive and defensive aspects of the pitch is a valuable find, and Mina will need to do just that to make fans feel better about his 28.5m price tag.

In other good news at Finch Farm, Michael Keane and James McCarthy have both stepped up training as they seek to return from injury. No Premier League side has seen as many injuries as the Toffees early in the year, and getting healthy will be essential towards getting the season back on track.