The Goodison Park side finished as the division’s second-lowest scorers, but have now somewhat neglected the defensive third despite Yerry Mina’s contractual expiry, Conor Coady’s loan conclusion and Mason Holgate’s loan departure to Southampton.
One of the most notable exits from the blue half of Merseyside this summer was that of Colombian centre-half Mina, who signed for Serie A side Fiorentina – who lost last term’s Europa Conference League final to West Ham United – on a free transfer in August.
The hulking defender was signed from Barcelona in an initial £27m deal in 2018 off the back of a World Cup campaign that saw him plunder three goals from three matches – including an equalising header against England in the round-of-16.
Making 99 appearances for the Toffees and scoring nine goals, the 28-year-old was plagued by injury problems throughout his five years at Goodison Park – his match action worked out to just 19.8 games per season – and he actually spent 31 fixtures on the sidelines across the past two campaigns alone.
The club’s joint-highest earner last season on £120k-per-week, it is hardly surprising that he was released; a fine centre-back on his day, Mina simply failed to sustain form with any real regularity for the lion’s share of his career on English soil.
The issue that Dyche is presented with is that he failed to bring in a defensive acquisition to replace Mina, or indeed Coady or Holgate.
Jarrad Branthwaite’s return from a successful loan move with Eredivisie outfit PSV Eindhoven has certainly bolstered the club’s backline after the exits of the aforementioned stars, but while the 21-year-old is a talented and “skilful” prospect – as has previously been said by Carlo Ancelotti – as the season digs deeper the time may come for rotation.
