Mina claims Silva was key to joining Everton

Everton defender Yerry Mina says constant communication with Marco Silva convinced him to join the club, while any talk of a move to Manchester United was purely talk with his agent.

The 24-year old centre-half signed from Barcelona in a deal worth £27.5million in the summer after a successful World Cup campaign that drew in a number of suitors looking to get his signature.

However, Mina claims that he was always aware of Everton, and it was manager Silva who convinced him that Goodison Park was the place to be.

Talking to The Guardian, Mina said:

The truth is Marco spoke to me every day, telling me to come to England

I have always been aware of English football while growing up in Colombia – Manchester United, Manchester City, Everton, Tottenham. But Everton, honestly, has always been an important club for me.

I watched them when back in the day when [Marouane] Fellaini was playing here, I remember Aaron Lennon too but, as I said, the big thing was when I was on holiday, training and keeping fit after the World Cup, Marco was on the phone, talking to me, saying to me: ‘Come on, come and play here with us.’

The faith he showed in me was very important. I know now, sitting here, that I have made the right decision. It was the best decision I could have made. I was always focused on Everton. Any talk with Manchester United was just with my agent.

Mina also joked about meeting Jordan Pickford for the first time. The Colombia international scored past Everton’s first-choice goalkeeper when the South American side took England to penalties in the World Cup in the summer. Mina continued:

You’re absolutely right, I reminded him.

But I said to him: ‘Jordan, don’t worry – we are together now.’

All the lads have been great but I have to say Jordan has been particularly good. He has accepted me really well, given me a great reception and really helped me out since I have got here. He is a good lad.

Colombia versus England was a little battle so I was a bit nervous about meeting him again at first but we are both here to win trophies for this club.

I was representing Colombia, he was representing England and it was a key match. We both wanted to get to the next stage but unfortunately it never worked out for [one of] us.