As well as managing to rack up just 19 points from 17 Premier League games so far this season, Everton have conceded a total of 29 goals, more than the likes of Burnley, Brentford and Southampton among others.

With this in mind and the fact that the January transfer window is close to opening, the Toffees could do with adding some reinforcements to their squad to fix their leaky defence.

Also, Everton could do with not having any of their current defenders leave the club halfway through the season such as Yerry Mina, who has been linked with a move to Italian club Napoli in recent days.

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 centre-back has gone on to make 84 appearances for Everton across all competitions, scoring six goals and providing one assist in the process.

In the 24 Premier League appearances he made for Everton last season, Mina showed what a useful defensive unit he can be for the team by racking up an average of 4.5 clearances per game and one interception per match whilst winning 62% of his duels and completing 90% of his passes.

To put those numbers into perspective, fellow Toffees defender Ben Godfrey has not been able to match Mina in any of those categories so far this season with 14 games played.

Even though he's struggled with injuries this season, it would still be a catastrophe from owner Farhad Moshiri if he were to sell the £120k-per-week Colombian this January given their defensive frailties.

Labelled as a "monster" on the pitch by Michael Ball in the past, Mina's potential exit in January would surely be a massive blow for the Toffees and their chances of ending the season away from the relegation zone, especially if they don't sign an immediate replacement for him if he does leave.

Given the recent dissent from Everton fans towards the club's hierarchy, it's safe to say that Mina's potential exit in January would not do much to improve the relationship between Moshiri and the fans who would no doubt be left seething.

Even though his current contract at Goodison Park isn't set to expire until the summer of 2023, it could be worth the hierarchy at Everton offering the centre-back a new deal to keep him in Benitez's squad and hope that he'll be able to stay fit for the rest of the season and help the team push up the league table.

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