Everton’s financial woes are well-documented, with their unruly spending, managerial merry-go-round and new stadium all providing various drains to dig them a deeper and deeper hole.
As such, the playing squad has somehow dwindled in years gone by due to questionable recruitment, with Farhad Moshiri’s lack of faith in one head coach resulting in a squad assembled by various figures all pulling in different directions.
It is a testament to this failure that Alex Iwobi’s Deadline Day exit last week marked the departure of yet another of Marco Silva’s signings, whilst one still remains in Andre Gomes.
The Portuguese boss left Goodison Park in 2019, and has since been appointed by Fulham, earned them a promotion and now reunited himself with the Nigeria international in west London as the Cottagers seek to extend the gap between them and the Toffees.
Whilst many might look to name Ronald Koeman as the manager who arguably did the most damage to the club, with his 2017 summer having proven catastrophic in the long run, Silva made some high-profile and lucrative errors of his own, which have certainly contributed to their current frustrations.
Despite this, it must be said that some of these failed acquisitions were just plain unfortunate.
Who played well for Everton last season?
Last season marked the second consecutive year that the Toffees had narrowly avoided the drop, taking it even closer than they had the campaign prior by relying on a final-day home victory over AFC Bournemouth.
With Abdoulaye Doucoure scoring the only goal of the game, he was one of many to be revitalised by the new management of Sean Dyche. His finishes in the second half of that term proved pivotal, alongside other starring roles from Dwight McNeil, Jordan Pickford and James Tarkowski.
However, a player who often went under the radar for his quality was Yerry Mina, who was widely recognised as the best defender at the club. The only issue was that he was seldom available for selection.
Across his four years on Merseyside, the Colombia international mustered just 99 appearances, whilst missing at least 54 games from the various injuries he suffered across that period. Silva even branded the 6 foot 4 titan “unlucky” back in 2019, with the worst of his ailments still to come.
Despite that, the 28-year-old did manage to make seven of those showings in that last Premier League season, with that short stint proving pivotal. His 7.20 average rating across that period was the highest of those who started five or more matches and was bolstered by his two goals, 88% pass accuracy, 2.1 tackles and four clearances per game, via Sofascore.
22/23 Ankle Injury
86
21/22 Hamstring Injury
62
21/22 Thigh Problems
39
20/21 Calf Injury
22
20/21 Muscle Injury
61
Stats via Transfermarkt
He was a true defensive hero, and although brief, his presence was vital in gaining precious points under both Frank Lampard and Dyche. Journalist Patrick Boyland even sought to praise one such showing, writing: “Tell you what, that was some performance from Yerry Mina. Absolute colossus”.
However, it remains to be seen whether he was worth the vast expenditure that his stay at Goodison Park commanded, given his lofty initial fee and astronomical wages.
How much did Everton pay for Yerry Mina?
As the hype grew around Silva’s tenure at Everton, given he had just led them into Europe in his first full season, things went into overdrive when Director of Football Marcel Brands went to Barcelona and came back with three of their stars.
First they welcomed Lucas Digne, who proved to be an instant success – with four goals and four assists in his debut season – before nine days later they would complete another double swoop, bringing in Gomes on loan and Mina permanently, in a deal rising to £28.5m.
Given how the defender had just performed at the recent World Cup, this marked an extraordinary coup on the surface for a young, promising centre-back who could underpin their defence for the next decade.
What was Yerry Mina’s salary at Everton?
Handed a five-year deal to reward his trust in joining their project, the club also saw fit to attach a lucrative £120k-per-week wage to that commitment, as one of numerous financial blunders over the years.
His lack of playtime made such a decision age incredibly poorly, as other, more reliable assets found themselves earning far less.
Had Mina managed to stay fit, however, the narrative on this move would have looked much more positive.
When did his contract expire?
The 41-cap ace saw his time on Merseyside come to an end in the summer just gone, leaving on a free transfer despite his heroics to help them stay afloat.
Few could argue with that decision, with the huge fee he was swallowing hardly worth his unreliability.
Mina has since signed for Fiorentina on a significantly lower wage, and unsurprisingly is yet to even make an appearance for the Italian outfit. At the very least his absence for them will not prove as costly as it did for Everton.
Did Yerry Mina deserve to earn £120k-per-week?
Whether he deserved his lucrative contract is a notion still debated even now by supporters, as his importance to the side when fit was unparalleled. The issue just remained that he seldom was.
Journalist Patrick Boyland penned one article to outline this notion back in 2022, writing for The Athletic: 'This season, Everton have taken an average of just 0.7 points from the 21 league games Mina has missed. Extrapolate that across a full season and they would end up with 27 points from 38 matches.
'In the 11 games he has played, their win percentage is 36 (up from 19 without him) and they average 1.4 points per game. Over a whole season, that would give them more than 50 points.
'The numbers were even more extreme for 2020-21 when a 58.3 per cent win ratio with Mina in the team dropped to 21.4 per cent in his absence.'
Whilst these figures are undeniable, missing as many games as he did ultimately made him far from deserving of earning one of the club's highest wages.
How much did other Everton players earn?
This was especially pertinent when comparing him to some of the stars he was earning more than, with only Pickford's £125k-per-week salary higher, via Capology.
Even the ever-present Tarkowski, who had joined on a free transfer just last summer was earning less, despite playing every minute of every league game.
However, perhaps the biggest tragedy was that during the 2020/21 season, when James Rodriguez linked up with Carlo Ancelotti on Merseyside, Mina even earned more than his compatriot despite the world-class talent he remained.
With Rodriguez a flawed, yet majestic 'genius' – as described by The Times' Paul Joyce – it says a lot that Mina was raking in an even bigger wage at the time, indicating just how much the Colombian bled the club dry prior to his recent exit.
