£27m Everton defender ‘will sign’ for Serie A side on Friday

Former Everton defender Yerry Mina is set to join Serie A side Fiorentina on a free transfer after leaving the club as a free agent at the end of the last season.

The Colombian signed for the Toffees off the back of a hugely impressive 2018 World Cup campaign with his country, in a deal worth around £27.2m from Barcelona. He was a big coup at the time for Marco Silva, who also brought in Richarlison, Lucas Digne and Andre Gomes in the same window.

Mina arrived with a big reputation but was contiually frustrated by injuries during his time at the club which restricted him to just 99 appearances across all competitions in five years on Merseyside.

According to Transfermarkt, he missed 400 days of action through injury and an ankle injury plagued him for the first half of last season under Frank Lampard.

Sean Dyche left him on the bench for much of their relegation run-in, but then made a major u-turn right at the end of the season, bringing in Mina for the final four games as the six foot four centre-back played a vital role in the club avoiding relegation.

Now, he is set to join Fiorentina. Fabrizio Romano claims the deal will be completed on Friday and an agreement is in place and a medical is booked.

The Italian side came eighth last season and came runners-up in both the Coppa Italia - losing out to Inter Milan - as well as the UEFA Conference League - losing out to West Ham.

Mina looks to be a replacement for the departing centre-back duo of Igor and Jacob Rasmussen; the former has completed a move to Brighton earlier this summer and has built a strong reputation in Italy.

Fans will look back on Mina’s time at the club as one that failed to live up to the heights promised by that brilliant World Cup showing over five years ago, but they will no doubt praise his efforts in the relegation run-in last season - especially including his 99th minute equaliser against Wolves which earned them a vital point to help keep them in the Premier League.