'Madness' - Former Everton defender gets away with crazy incident against Bologna forward

Former Everton defender Yerry Mina was known for his on-pitch shenanigans during his time at the club and now he's been up to his old tricks in Italy with his new club, Fiorentina.

Mina, 29, left Goodison Park last summer following a five-year-spell at the club and he was allowed to leave on a free transfer after his contract expired. Despite being signed as a potential star from Barcelona following a stellar World Cup campaign with Colombia, Mina suffered greatly from injury issues which held him back from being a consistent figure on Merseyside.

Of course, he had his moments, but they were few and far between and after signing for a fee of £27m, his departure on a free transfer was a big financial loss. In the end, the club was happy to allow him to seek first-team football elsewhere given his sizeable wages and the club have promoted Jarrad Branthwaite into the first-team instead which has been a real success.

For Mina, it has been more of the same despite making the move to Fiorentina, who have impressed this season as a club, with them currently sat fourth in the Italian top-flight. They also have a last 16 tie in the Europa Conference League to look forward to as well as semi-finals in both Italian cups, but Mina has barely featured. He has played just seven times, totalling 185 minutes in total but he caught the eye in the 10 minutes he played against Bologna in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia when he went up against in-form forward Joshua Zirkzee.

In what was almost his first action after coming on as a substitute, he tussled with the forward as a clearance came his way which left the Bologna man on the floor. At closer inspection, replays showed the Colombian squeezing and grabbing the striker's chest as the ball came their way which left him in pain on the floor. The commentator called it 'madness' and was surprised when he escaped any sort of caution or any VAR intervention.

During his time at Everton, he had plenty of moments similar to this. Erling Haaland revealed the extent of the defender's scratches on his chest after one game last season with Ilkay Gundogan quoted as saying "I also remember Yerry Mina from Everton," Gundogan told Bild. "A tough Colombian centre-back. He'll use his hands in a tackle, scratch or pinch your back when the referee isn't looking. I've seen him do that once or twice. But not so much in a dirty way. He even smiles in your face in a friendly way, which makes him sympathetic in a funny way. I didn't know how to pinch the back before."

Perhaps a player that did frustrate with injuries, Mina always gave 110% and did whatever he could to help Everton win and his reputation certainly falls within the category of the type of player you would rather have on your team, rather than against you. Nevertheless, it seems some things don't change.