One is working hard, the other rushing his vacation. What they do share is the ‘transferable’ label that, according to the British press, the new Everton coach, Rafa Benítez, has put on them.
James Rodríguez and Yerry Mina would be on the list of six possible outings, to ‘make money’ and make room for the first three players that the Spanish DT intends.
According to the newspaper The Telegraph, the list is led by James, basically due to his high salary, which, according to the information known at the time of his signing in 2019, dropped from 8 million euros to 5 million per season. The ‘sacrifice’ was to accelerate the departure of Real Madrid and end once with the ‘ninguneo’. But in any case, he is still the most expensive player on the payroll and one of the lowest due to injury: 15 games in total.
But it is not the only name: Andre Gomes, Bernard, Fabian Delph, Yerry Mina and Cenk Tosun. Mine, yes. The one that came from less to more in the Colombian National Team, crowning very good presentations, as against Uruguay in the quarterfinals of the Copa América, and other less showy ones, as in the penalties in the semifinal against Argentina.
The same one who overcame the physical problems to be at the command of Ancelotti and who still does not know Benítez, as he is on vacation. The one who spent the first season on the sidelines due to injuries, managed to settle later but made mistakes that were added to recurrences in physical problems and ended up giving the feeling of having to look for another center-back more regularly. Almost since his arrival in Europe, this ups and downs has been his day to day.
The Telegraph says owner Farhad Moshiri has spent more than £ 400 million on players since his arrival in 2016, without meeting the goal of a return to European competition. Now, with the million-dollar construction of the new stadium on top, what you need is cash flow, not expenses.
That would be the reason for the departure of players who moved their wallets at the time but are now considered expendable: for example, Mina cost 30 million euros, a round business for FC Barcelona, who bought it for 13 million and never used it, but not as profitable at Goodison Park. Bernard, Delph and Tosun had already been sentenced since the days of Ancelotti, all for not making a difference when the occasion came and for injuries, in the end.
But the question now is: why do they want so many exits? If six come out, who will arrive? Again, bad news for James and Mina: an attacking midfielder, a center back and a goalkeeper.
According to the Liverpool Echo newspaper, two businesses are practically ready: Asmir Begovic and Andros Townsend.
The former has spent four years at Bournemouth, since arriving from Chelsea in 2017, and was a starting goalkeeper last season. He accumulates transfers in Qarabag and AC Milan in the 2019/20 season, which is good, because he adds experience, but bad, because he did not stay. Everton feels Pickford needs competition and is thus expediting procedures.
The other, Townsend, is coming off 34 Premier League appearances at Crystal Palace in the past season, with one goal and five assists on the count. It is true that the Colombian left-hander is better, with an advantage, but the Englishman is very sacrificed in the brand and radically less expensive. Age? There they also tie: they are 30 years old.
For Mina there is no encouraging news either, as the gray experience of FC Barcelona haunts him: his possible replacement would come from there, none other than Clement Lenglet. The Frenchman lives his lowest hours in Messi’s team, in fact he dragged him in the last Euro, but for European or whatever, he inspires confidence in DT Benítez. His cost is the first mess: the Catalans hope to receive 20 million euros for him, they understand that at this moment it is not easy to find a team that will pay for it and that is why they do not rule out a loan with a mandatory purchase option, based on a minimum number of games played, but with the understanding that the destination club pays the entire token. In any case, it would be the sentence of Mina to the substitution.
There would be a fourth interest, Bayer Leverkusen winger Demarai Gray, but he has not yet moved on to the formal offer, until he has sufficient funds.
In this way, the rumors are as daunting for James and Yerry Mina as feared when Benítez arrived as Ancelotti’s replacement. Everything advanced will have to be walked again, only now without sympathy or anything like it. It can be challenging or dooming to swim and swim to drown on shore. Work and time are the only answer.
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