Manchester City spent an obscene amount of money on John Stones in the summer, but Pep Guardiola’s defensive restructuring is not complete yet.
After a rather barren run in front of goal in recent weeks, Manchester City’s remarkable 3-1 beating of Barcelona at the Etihad Stadium confirmed that Pep Guardiola does indeed have some rather talented attackers at his disposal. But, the Catalan master is a perfectionist. And the sight of Lionel Messi waltzing untracked and unmarked through the centre of the park to slot home a counter with consummate ease will have elicited a rather vigorous half-time head-scratch.
After all, from John Stones’ blind backpass against Southampton to Aleksandar Kolarov’s entirely avoidable own goal against Spurs, individual errors have cost City a number of potentially crucial points already this season.
As such, Pep is reportedly planning to take the dramatic scuffle with his Catalan compatriots from the pitch to the boardroom, with City set to go toe to toe with Barcelona for one of South America’s most exciting defensive talents according to the Daily Mail. But who is he?
1) 22-year-old Yerry Mina may not a familiar name around the dining table of English football fans but, until recently, he was a relative unknown in current surroundings of Brazil too. The centre-back only signed for current club Palmeiras in May after winning the Copa Sudamericana with his homeland club, Santa Fe.
2) City will be hoping new signing Gabriel Jesus is as engaging off the pitch as he is on it. Palmeiras’ talisman will finally make the switch to the Etihad in the New Year after the completion of the Brazilian league, and his new employers may well have an extra-curricular assignment for their Samba star; convince team-mate Mina to join him on the flight to Manchester.
3) Guardiola will be hoping his defenders learn to keep the goals out in the coming months, but netting a few at the other end wouldn’t go amiss either. And Mina possesses a record a respectable striker would be quite content with, netting four in ten appearances in the Brazilian Serie A this season.
4) After Claudio Bravo’s wholly needless red card diluted an entirely competitive contest into half an hour of Lionel Messi and Neymar shooting dizzied defenders in a barrel, City will more than aware of the need to keep eleven players on the pitch if possible. Therefore, Mina’s record of four yellow cards in ten league appearances certainly urges caution while bringing the phrase ‘raw talent’ to mind. Though Guardiola is rather adept at ironing out those rough edges.
5) According to the Daily Mail, Barca have jumped to the front of the queue by claiming a ‘first option agreement’ to sign Mina next summer for £8.1 million. You get the feeling City will not be accepting defeat that easily however.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
