Transfer news
According to a report by Mirror, Manchester United are eyeing a move for Colombian defender Yerry Mina. Mina joined Barcelona last year in a £11.8m move from Brazilian outfit Palmeiras.
He made only 4 appearances for the La Liga champions failing to make an impact in the first team. After an impressive showing at the World Cup last month, Barcelona are ready to cash in on him and Manchester United are the latest team to have joined the chase for the Colombian.
United’s defensive woes
Jose Mourinho’s men had the second best defensive record in the Premier League last season. However, the fragilities of their shaky defence were overshadowed by David De Gea’s brilliance.
Mourinho had to provide protection to the defence in big games by asking the midfielders to play deep and rely on the speed of their attacking players during counters which restricted their fluidity and the ability to dominate games.
The gaffer couldn’t field a settled centre-back pairing as the likes of Eric Bailly, Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones were on the treatment table at different periods of the season. As a result, Mourinho has made signing a centre-back a priority this summer.
The Red Devils had reportedly made an attempt to land Harry Maguire. However, they seem to have failed in their pursuit with Leicester City ready to tie their star man to a new contract, according to the same report by Mirror.
Yerry Mina: Player Profile
Yerry Mina is a tall lad and his physical demeanour means he can impose himself on opposition forwards. He is a menace in the air and makes his presence count during set pieces.
He scored 3 goals during Colombia’s World Cup campaign which included a late equaliser against England in the knockout stage. The Colombian reads the game well and makes strong challenges and more often than not comes out on top in 1v1 situations. He has good pace and will be able to adjust quickly to the physical demands of the Premier League.
Mina At Manchester United
Barcelona play a high defensive line and Yerry Mina has shown lapses in concentration costing his team goals, notably in the loss against Levante making some of his detractors doubt his ability to play at the highest level.
However, that won’t be a worry as Jose Mourinho likes to play a low block defensive structure. Yerry Mina is a good passer of the ball and picks out midfielders and forwards with accurate crisp passes which will come in handy when releasing players like Sanchez and Rashford who like to make early runs.
It is true that he is a largely untested proposition but from whatever little we have seen of him, we feel he could still be a bargain at £30m in the post-Neymar market and be an upgrade on Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo.
Stats Courtesy: Whoscored
