Yerry Mina told to quit Everton after behind-the-scenes latest – ‘It’s time to go’
Yerry Mina’s injury record is not good enough and it may be better for both parties if he left Everton for a less demanding league.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
Mina, 27, has struggled with injuries since he first arrived at Goodison Park from Barcelona in the summer of 2018.
He missed the bulk of the 2021-22 campaign as the Toffees only narrowly avoided relegation with one of the worst defensive records in the top flight.
The Colombian centre-back has now suffered a new ankle injury just two games into the 2022-23 season.
As relayed by BBC Sport on Monday (15 August), Everton’s internal assessments show that Mina is likely to miss up to eight weeks of action.
Dinnery argues that the defender is not cut out for the physical rigours of the Premier League.
“I’m always reluctant to label any player as injury prone as players need to be managed in different ways,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“But it gets to a point that players aren’t able to cope with the physical demands of the Premier League. With Mina, he has only played 44 per cent of Premier League League games since his arrival.
“We have previously stressed the importance of him in the team. The points-per-game ratio is night and day when he is out of the first XI.
“But unfortunately, if he typically plays less than half of all games, he isn’t someone who can be relied upon. This cycle has been going on for so long now.
“Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say maybe it’s time to take a step back and look at a less demanding league elsewhere.
“This injury looked pretty innocuous but next thing we know, we’re told he’s seeing a specialist and is going to be out for eight weeks.
“Everton inherently have struggled without him, so the moment he approaches fitness, managers become itchy to throw him back in there.
“That means he is rarely given the full opportunity to recover from injury. As we’ve seen with him, the risk hasn’t often paid off.”
In other news, Everton in advanced talks to sign Ajax star Mohammed Kudus.