Ben Guest
The future of Barcelona’s Yerry Mina has been up for plenty of discussion this summer, with reports today suggesting that Manchester United have been in touch with Barcelona regarding a potential transfer.
The defender had an impressive World Cup for Colombia this summer where he scored three goals, including the late equaliser against England to take their last 16 game to extra-time.
He has been heavily linked with leaving Barcelona this summer, despite only moving to the Nou Camp in January after unsurprisingly failing to dislodge first choice centre-back pairing Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti.
La Liga clubs are only permitted to have three non-EU players within their squad, and while Lionel Messi has Spanish citizenship and Luis Suarez has an Italian passport, Barcelona’s recent acquisitions of Brazilian winger Malcom and his compatriot Arthur, takes the Catalan side’s total to four, with Mina the most likely to be shown the exit.
The 23-year-old has been linked with a move to Everton, but reports in Catalonia today suggest that Manchester United have been in contact.
Manchester United’s interest in signing a new central defender is no secret, with Harry Maguire and Toby Alderweireld thought to be their prime targets this summer.
However, with Jose Mourinho frustrated at a lack of transfer activity, and Leicester and Tottenham proving difficult to negotiate with, Sport claim that United have contacted Mina to ask that he holds off making a decision on his future until the last minute, with the English transfer window set to close on August 9.
In an interesting development, Mina has also got tongues wagging thanks to his activity on social media. Eagle eyed viewers, or stalkers if you will, have noticed that the defender has removed ‘Barcelona player’ from the bio of his Instagram account, as well as started following Manchester United’s official account on the picture sharing network.
Make of that what you will…