Richarlison and Yerry Mina return to training for Everton

Fabian Delph and defender Jarrad Branthwaite were also involved in the session

Everton duo Yerry Mina and Richarlison are back in training after long injury lay-offs (Jon Super/PA) (PA Archive)

Everton manager Rafael Benitez has received a welcome boost with the return to training of forward Richarlison and centre-back Yerry Mina.

The pair have been out for a month, although Mina has played just 31 minutes of football since early October as his comeback game after a calf problem ended with a first-half substitution last month.

It signals the end of what has been a terrible run of injuries for the under-pressure Benitez as last season’s leading scorer Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who made his first appearance in four months in their last Premier League outing but was rested for the FA Cup win at Hull, midfielder Fabian Delph and defender Jarrad Branthwaite were also involved in the session.

The only first-team player currently sidelined is midfielder Tom Davies who underwent an operation on a hamstring tendon injury on Tuesday.

Benitez also looks like having his squad bolstered by the arrival on loan of Aston Villa winger Anwar El Ghazi before the weekend, with out-of-favour left-back Lucas Digne set to complete a £25million permanent move in the opposite direction.

El Ghazi will be Everton’s third signing of the transfer window following the arrival of full-backs Nathan Patterson, from Rangers, and Vitaliy Mykolenko from Dynamo Kiev.