Newcastle want to sign £28.5m Everton ‘monster’, Benitez exit could be a problem

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Newcastle United are keen to sign Everton central defender Yerry Mina – but Rafael Benitez’s exit may just complicate their pursuit.

That’s according to TEAMtalk, who claim that Newcastle are turning their attentions towards Mina in the search of a new centre back.

An outrageous number of defenders have been linked with Newcastle of late, most notably the likes of Sven Botman and Diego Carlos.

Those deals are proving very difficult to pull off, meaning Newcastle are now looking a little closer to home.

Mina is on Newcastle’s radar and this report claims that the Magpies could chase him on loan given that they have two domestic loan slots available.

The problem is that Everton have just sacked former Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez.

The Toffees are chasing a new manager and may not be focusing on transfers right now.

Add in that they may not want to let any players go before their new manager has a chance to analyse the Everton squad.

That means Newcastle may not receive a swift answer from Everton if they do come calling for Mina, which would only add to the frustration.

The only way Newcastle could feasibly pull off this Mina deal quickly is if they offer Everton a lump of cash they simply can’t refuse.

Everton did fork out £28.5million to sign Mina from Barcelona in 2018, and would likely want most of that back to sell up.

Mina is out of contract in 2023, meaning Everton may be under some pressure to sell before he walks away for nothing in 18 months.

That’s something Newcastle may look to use to their advantage, believing they can come up with a deal to tempt Everton into letting the Colombian go.

This would be a risky move though. Mina has shown real quality in the Premier League, but injuries continue to be a major problem.

Mina has only managed six Premier League starts this season as his muscle problems haunt him.

Is that going to get any better for the 27-year-old moving forward? It’s hard to imagine the situation will just change with a switch of club.

Newcastle need players they can depend on right now and throughout their relegation battle, and Mina’s injury woes are a huge red flag.

Praised as ‘fantastic’ and a ‘monster’ by Michael Ball earlier this season, Mina’s future is unclear but Newcastle may now hope to secure his signature this month.