Whats the story?
Pep Seguro, Barcelona’s director, has travelled to Brazil to sign Colombian defender Yerry Mina from Palmeiras, according to El Mundo Deportivo. The La Liga giants already have a pre-agreement in place to sign the 22-year-old over any period of the next three years, but have decided to act now as Luis Enrique is nervous about the state of his defence.
In case you didn’t know...
Yerry Mina is one of the highest-rated young defenders in the world, having received offers from the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and AC Milan. However, Barcelona had already secured first option on the Colombian, with a €9 million fee being mooted.
The heart of the matter
Barcelona have decided to act now, as there is interest from other clubs – Manchester City are apparently preparing a blockbuster offer, which would force Barcelona into buying him right now, instead of the summer of 2017, as was originally planned. Mina has been hugely impressive for Palmeiras, becoming perhaps their best player in 2016.
Gabriel Jesus, who was teammates with Mina at Palmeiras, has been vocal about his qualities to his Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, who is on the lookout for central defenders. Mina has already made impressive appearances for the Colombian national team, and is gradually garnering the interests of multiple European giants.
The deal that Palmeiras have structured with Barcelona involves a fee which will gradually rise were Barcelona to wait, rising up to €20 million next year. Luis Enrique would prefer to see out this season, but has his hands forced, with concerns over the long term capabilities of Javier Mascherano and Gerard Pique.
What next?
Pep Seguro is going to watch Mina train before finalizing the deal. Roberto Fernandez – Barcelona’s chief techinical director will have the final say on whether the deal goes through, but it is quite likely that the Catalans will pull the trigger to make their first signing of this January transfer window.
Sportskeeda’s Take
While most Barcelona fans have been crying out for a right-back, signing Mina in January would be quite an intelligent decision. Samuel Umtiti has slotted in fairly well, but the rate at which Mascherano is declining is quite alarming. Barcelona face a fixture pileup for the next few months, an another body in Yerry Mina could definitely ease the defensive burden on Barcelona.
