Yerry Mina, who remains a hot topic this summer talked about his life so far at the Camp Nou. The player used to pay for Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez to go shopping after making bets with the strikers over free-kicks in training for Barcelona.
Yerry Mina is heavily linked with English club Everton.
Mina has been linked with many English clubs this summer. Everton, Manchester United and Lyon continue to be linked with an interest.
It has been a tough road for the Colombian since his arrival in Spain regarding minutes played. But it hasn’t been all doom and gloom, as the 23-year-old explained to Bocas magazine.
“When I arrived, to create a good atmosphere I started to bet with Messi and Suarez to see who took the best free-kicks in training. I did it just to watch them. Before I knew it, they were taking 50 euros a day off me. And I was like, ‘What; I’m paying for these guys to go shopping!’ But the truth is those monsters put the ball wherever they want it. They are fantastic people, and they are wizards.”
Mina’s time in Catalunya has not been easy. The playing time was difficult to come by. And the Liga champions eager to move Mina on this term to make space for non-EU players.
Even when he did play, though, Mina admits nothing felt like it was going his way.
“I thought a lot of things, a lot of bad things. I thought I was finished. Felt so bad and [Philippe] Coutinho and Paulinho tried to encourage me all the time and told me that everything would be fine. For me, I understand that there are spectacular players [at centre-back] but I just wanted to have a minute to impress, and it didn’t happen. The few minutes I did get, they were bad … it felt at times like everything was going wrong and coming down.“
Mina was one of the star player of Colombia in this year’s FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia. He played three matches and scored as many goals in consecutive games.
Yerry Mina also saved his side from elimination once, and his goal could have taken his team to the semi-final if they could have managed to win against England on the penalties.