Everton saw out a 0-0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in their latest Premier League game at Goodison Park at the weekend, placing them in 11th place in the league table with 15 points alongside Crystal Palace and Leicester City who also have 15 points on the board heading into the latest international break.

With a two week interval before the Toffees take on Manchester City away from home in their next league fixture, it seems as though Everton could be welcoming back one of their key players just in time to take on Pep Guardiola’s side, which we feel will leave a lot of fans buzzing.

What’s the news?

Speaking after the draw against Antonio Conte’s side, Everton manager Rafa Benitez revealed he is “optimistic” that defender Yerry Mina will be able to return to training in the next few days.

The Spaniard suggested that he is “very close” to a return to action after missing their last three Premier League matches because of a hamstring problem.

Not only will it be good to have Mina back available for selection against City, but it seems as though his return will be coming at the best time. Mason Holgate will be banned for the game against the Manchester club after he was red-carded in the late stages of the match against Tottenham so a replacement will evidently be required.

Since joining the Merseyside club from Barcelona back in the 2018 summer transfer window in a deal worth a reported fee of £28.5m, the 27-year-old, who is currently valued at £18m according to Transfermarkt, has made 83 appearances for the Toffees across all competitions, chipping in with six goals in the process.

In the six Premier League games he’s played in for Everton so far this season, Mina has managed to rack up an average of four clearances per game, 1.5 interceptions per game and one tackle per game, highlighting just how much of a defensive unit he can be for the Toffees.

This also says to us that Mina could well be a vital figure for Everton when their match against City comes around. They have managed to score 22 goals so far this season in the league and have made more passes than any other top-flight team with 7095 made across 11 games.

With this in mind, if the defender does manage to get back to training in the next few days and use his time to fully recover and prepare himself for the City game, his presence will give Everton a great chance of securing a positive result against the reigning league champions. That’s something that will undoubtedly leave supporters delighted.

In other news: Forget Holgate: £90k-p/w Everton dud with fewer touches than Pickford let Rafa down – opinion