Scout Report – Yerry Mina
After signing Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool, Barcelona are set to sign Yerry Mina from Palmeiras as Ernesto Valverde goes about boosting their resources in the ongoing January window. Estimated to cost about £11million, the 23-year-old defender is understood to be a direct replacement for Javier Mascherano. The long-term centre-back’s time at Camp Nou is understood to be coming to an end as he gets set to seek pastures anew this January.
Either way, Barcelona could use a new central defender as the club’s challenges will only intensify from here on. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at Mina’s profile.
History
Born in 1994 in Guachene, Colombia, Mina played for Deportivo Pasto for about a year and then left them in 2014 to play for Independiente Santa Fe. It took him a while to make a name for himself but once he did, there was no stopping him. Mina quickly established himself as a regular for the club and that attracted quite a lot of attention from Palmeiras. The defender spent two years at Santa Fe and then chose to make the switch to join the Brazilian club.
Palmeiras signed him in May 2016 and the player has come a long way since making his debut for the club against Sport Recife. This season, Mina has already scored 2 goals and has provided an assist. He even won the Man Of The Match award once for the club and it will be interesting to see if they are willing to part ways with the prized defender.
Playing Style
An athletic player by nature, Mina boasts of immense defensive strengths and is quite adept in attacking situations as well. He is quite light on his feet which helps him put in some speedy performances. The player has impressive ball control as well. His tackles and interceptions are top-notch and he is strong when it comes to aerial situations. However, there is room for improvement. Mina will have to refine his performances if he joins Barcelona since he has already picked up 5 yellow cards in 15 league appearances for Palmeiras this season.
Mina’s Future
The player will enjoy quite an integral role at Camp Nou and that itself is likely to fill him with excitement. This comes across as a massive opportunity for the 23-year-old and it will be interesting to see if the move goes through. There has been uncertainty surrounding Samuel Umtiti’s future as well, thus providing greater scope for Mina to go out and make the centre-back position his own.