Patrick Bamford says former Everton defender is the most ‘horrible’ player he’s ever played against

Add as preferred source on Google

Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford has named the defender he has hated playing against during his career.

Bamford is now one of the most experienced attackers across the entire of the top four divisions of English football, and so has come up against all kinds of defenders in his time.

The 30-year-old claimed earlier this week that he is the happiest he has been at Leeds in a long time, perhaps even since the first season back in the Premier League, given the injury issues that have since followed.

And despite only coming up against him directly twice, it is a former Premier League defender who he has named here. That man is ex-Everton player Yerry Mina.

Speaking on the latest episode of the ‘My Mate’s a Footballer Podcast’, Bamford says he would come off the field after facing him with all kinds of bruises and scratches on his body.

Bamford says Mina the worst to play against

He said: “I know someone I hated playing against, he was a good defender but not the hardest I’ve played against but it was horrible. I think Man City and Haaland played against him and there was a picture after the game, I am pretty sure he scored and he had his top off.

“You could see the scratches and marks in certain places and I knew. It’s Yerry Mina who used to be at Everton. Every time I played against him he tries to give you some verbals but I quite enjoyed it, but then off the ball you know like a chicken nip on the back of the arm?

“He’d do that but hard and twist, the whole game. You’d come off and you’d be scratched all over your back and chest, arms bruised. Like you’ve been wrestling with a cat.”

This should perhaps not come as much of a surprise given that Mina has harnessed a reputation for rubbing people up the wrong way throughout his career. Even the greatest of all time Lionel Messi.

Bamford also alluded to a match with Haaland in those quotes about what Mina was like, which was the same game in which Pep Guardiola criticised the Colombian after the game for some of the tactics he employed to stop his players.

So, with that in mind, it is not a surprise to hear Bamford name Mina as the most horrible to come up against, but it cannot be denied that he was a good player for Everton.