Everton have finally reached an agreement with Barcelona over the signing of defender Yerry Mina, sources understands.
Barca, who were initially reluctant to drop their £35 million ($47m) valuation of the Colombia international, have settled on a fee in the region of €32m (£29m/$37m) following a dramatic last 48 hours of developments in the player’s future.
Marco Silva’s side appeared to be on the verge of signing Mina, who starred for Colombia at the World Cup, on July 26, although turned their attentions to Marcos Rojo having been frustrated by Barca’s initial refusal to lower their asking price.
Manchester United then emerged as possible suitors to sign the former Palmeiras defender, only for the Red Devils to pull the plug on their interest late on Saturday night, as they focused on other targets, namely Toby Alderweireld.
Silva’s Everton had appeared not to be interested in returning to the negotiating table having been messed around by Barca in their attempts to sign Mina, with United’s late interest having also muddied the waters.
But Goal understands that, with only a few days remaining of the transfer window in England, there has been a change of heart on Merseyside and the club quickly moved to agree a transfer in the region of €32m.
Mina, for his part, appeared to be out of options, with the 23-year-old behind the likes of Gerard Pique, Samuel Umtiti, Thomas Vermaelen and now new signing Clement Lenglet in the Camp Nou pecking order.
Reports in France have claimed that Lyon had joined the race for the towering centre-back, but he now seems all set to make the move to the Premier League, with the agreement of personal terms and a medical with the Toffees to follow.
Everton have already signed Lucas Digne from Barcelona, with Watford forward Richarlison having also arrived during the summer transfer window.
The Merseysiders get their Premier League campaign underway on August 11 with a trip to newly-promoted Wolves.
Mina completed a protracted move to Barcelona from Palmeiras in January for £10.5m, carrying with him a big reputation after earning the tag of best defender in Brazil.
The Colombian became, at 6ft 4ins, Barcelona’s tallest player, ahead of Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets. It’s no surprise that he started his career as a goalkeeper – a family tradition – before converting to defence.
Mina, also developed a reputation for exuberant dancing and pulled off some slick moves at his presentation, during which he strolled out barefoot at the Camp Nou, to feel the grass beneath his feet.
It proved to be one of the rare occasions he was able to do so in a painful half-season at Barcelona.
Coach Ernesto Valverde decided he could not count on Mina and more often than not he didn’t even make the substitutes bench, with Thomas Vermaelen the preferred reserve to Pique and Samuel Umtiti.
And when Mina did play, Barcelona tended to suffer. Their defence was tight on their title charge, conceding just 29 goals in 38 league games.
Almost a quarter of those goals were spread out over just three games in which Mina was on the pitch – and he only made five league appearances in total.
The worst of those matches was the debacle at Levante, in Barcelona’s penultimate match of a thus-far unbeaten league season.
Paired with Vermaelen in defence, ‘Tom and Yerry’ came up with comically bad defending as Barcelona suffered a 5-4 defeat, ruining their chances of surviving the season without a single defeat.
Mina started his Barcelona career reasonably well, impressing personally during a disappointing 0-0 draw with Getafe, but the Madrid minnows were not able to cause much trouble.
As soon as he came up against craftier opponents, his flaws were exposed.
Celta Vigo duo Jonny Castro and Iago Aspas ripped him to shreds for their side’s goals in a 2-2 draw at Balaidos.