Yerry Mina silences Carlo Ancelotti as Ben Godfrey sent Everton transfer message

Just as Everton are about to bring a centre-back into the club, one of the players already at Goodison Park gave a timely reminder of his talents.

Ben Godfrey might be closing in on a move to Merseyside from Norwich City, but Yerry Mina showed that he’s not about to walk easily into the first team.

The Colombia international has had his troubles over the past two seasons in terms of consistently keeping his place in the side, whether that be through injury or his form when compared to that of his teammates.

In fact in his last Premier League match at Goodison, despite Everton coming out on top fairly comfortably over West Bromwich Albion in the end, there were a few questions levelled at Mina for his personal display.

After that match, Carlo Ancelotti said: “Yerry had an average game, I think he could be more aggressive and do more with the ball.

“The only aspect we have to look at is him being more aggressive when he can press the opening.”

This is clearly an aspect the 26-year-old took on board and got to work with putting right over the course of the next two games.

He showed improvement in the win over Crystal Palace but really came into his own once again when Brighton made their visit to Goodison on Saturday.

He might not have been the best player on the pitch for the hosts. In fact, the majority of his strong work might have flown under the radar for some.

Aside from a goal he could do nothing about, both Mina and Michael Keane alongside him worked tirelessly to make sure that both Aaron Connolly and Neal Maupay had little to work with in the first half in particular.

One of the loudest voices on the pitch was that of the Colombia international as he constantly shouted instructions to his teammates to help Everton keep their organised defensive line.

And, on top of it all, there was the aggression that Ancelotti noted was absent against West Brom.

He won three aerial duels, made the same amount of clearances and made four interceptions to make sure that Brighton couldn’t break through.

He was also efficient in possession against the high press of the visitors who tried to force mistakes from the Blues back line particularly in the early stages of this clash.

The first half might have been where Mina made his impact on the scoreline, finishing off an inviting cross from James Rodriguez to make it 2-1, but it was the second period which saw him truly affect the result.

The centre-back was fantastic in the second 45 minutes, making a number of crucial interceptions and headers to keep the visitors at bay.

One particularly brave header saw him collide with his own goalkeeper as he made a clearance almost on the goal-line, and he continued that similarly strong defensive work right up until the last minutes of the 90.

This was Mina answering the feedback from his boss a few weeks ago in some style.

This was an aggressive, organised, dedicated and truly fantastic performance from a centre-back just as more competition is about to be added to the club.

Ben Godfrey might well have been watching his prospective new side in action this afternoon.

If he’s kept an eye on Mina, he now knows the big task that could face him in terms of breaking into the side.