On the blue side of Liverpool’s Stanley Park, the few hours leading up to 5pm on August 9th were, to say the very least, energetic. Everton, in a triple deadline-day deal, signed Brazilian winger Bernard on a free, Andre Gomes on season-long loan and – most importantly given their weakness in that area – centre-back Yerry Mina for a fee in the region of £27m. Marco Silva was clearly in need of a partner for Michael Keane, so the arrival of Mina, who they had pursued for weeks, was a huge positive for the club. He excelled at the World Cup for Colombia and has all the physical and technical characteristics to thrive in the Premier League. The club had filled an obvious hole with a very good player. Why, then, was it so difficult to shift the sensation that the Toffees had overpaid?

Big Money Moves

In January, Barcelona had parted with £10m to secure the 23-year-old’s services. Wind back another 18 months and the very same player was transferred from Independiente Santa Fe to Brazilian giants Palmeiras for just £3m. In two years, Mina’s value has rocketed by almost 1000%. Because of the immediacy of the jump in price and his performances in Russia, Mina’s move was the most attention-grabbing example of a Premier League club shelling out a substantial fee for a player who could have been bought for much less a short time ago. But he is far from the only one. Bournemouth bought Mina’s leg-biting Colombia team-mate Jefferson Lerma for a reported £25m. Two years ago, he cost Levante around £450,000. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa went to Fulham for £30m just three years after a free transfer from Stade de Rimes to Marseille. Liverpool purchased Alisson for £67 million, a full £60m more than Roma paid Internacional for the Selecao goalkeeper in 2016. The list could go on.