Barcelona seem to have finally managed to bolster their backline, with reports of them agreeing an €11.5 million deal for Palmeiras defender Yerry Mina.
According to Spanish publication Sport, the transfer saga involving Barcelona and Yerry Mina seems to be finally heading towards its completion. The current La Liga leaders have agreed an €11.5 million deal with Palmeiras in order to land the highly-rated Colombian international.
Yerry Mina joined Palmeiras in May, 2016 and has been a regular for the Brazilian side. While in Brazil, he has also added another trophy to his cabinet, with Palmeiras winning the Brazilian league in 2016. A total of 33 games though, with 8 goals and 2 assists to show for his efforts, could be all he plays for the Brazilian outfit.
Yerry Mina is a player who has been linked with Barcelona for a long time. And according to the report, Barcelona will finally be exercising their long-standing option to trigger a deal to bring the Colombian to Camp Nou. The Catalan giants had the option to sign the player for just €9 million in the summer.
But, given their immediate need for reinforcements at the back, they have decided to pay a premium of €2.5 million to sign Mina in January itself.
[@diegonoticia]:
Yerry Mina will be a Barcelona player next week – the Colombian just needs to sign some documents so he can travel to Spain for a medical check-up next week. His uncle, Jair Mina, and his lawyer will accompany him to the Republic of Catalunya. pic.twitter.com/RQrQExAIL3— ᵁᴸᵀᴿᴬ® (@UltraAutistic) January 4, 2018
The report states that Yerry Mina is due to arrive in Spain and will soon be penning his first contract with Barcelona – a four-and-half year deal. While the general expectation is that he will be involved in some capacity in the first-team setup after his arrival, he will mostly be used as a backup to the already present options at Ernesto Valverde’s disposal.
Indeed, the need for reinforcements to the options in central defence has become paramount. Gerard Pique has not been his own self since being involved in the controversy surrounding the Catalan call for Independence. Javier Mascherano looks set to test the waters of the Chinese Super League. And the injury to Samuel Umtiti has further depleted the options available to Valverde.
Barcelona had been looking at budget options like Daley Blind. But, they would be glad to be able to bring in Mina earlier than expected, despite having to splurge an extra couple of millions for it.
The Catalans would rather have Yerry Mina at their disposal from January than face themselves with a possible experiment by bringing in another player and then having to deal with his squad status when the 23-year-old would have arrived in the summer.
A much-awaited move – it will be interesting to see whether it works out, hopefully for all the parties involved.
