Dan Bardell exclusive: Tyrone Mings’ status at Aston Villa cemented after Diego Carlos injury
We’re delighted to welcome The Athletic’s Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
The injury to Diego Carlos cements Tyrone Mings’ status as a key part of the Aston Villa team once more, according to Dan Bardell.
The England defender returned to the line-up for the victory over Everton which also saw his centre-back partner, new signing Diego Carlos, go down with a ruptured achilles that will rule him out of the season.
After losing the captain’s armband to John McGinn and being benched for the opening loss at Bournemouth there were some doubts about the future of the ex-skipper at the club, but Bardell expects him to resume his role as senior man at his position now that the new arrival is missing.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News he said: “I think he’s probably going to end up being number one centre-back now. Obviously Diego Carlos played on the left hand side of the two centre-backs in the first game, so he was the other option to play left hand side.
“[Calum] Chambers and [Ezri] Konsa, primarily they’re right sided centre-backs, so I think now that Mings will probably be the first pick at centre-back, and he’d be my first pick anyway because I believe that Aston Villa are a better football team with Tyrone Mings in the side.
“You see the difference he makes when he returns to the team on Saturday, you saw the reception he got from the fans as well.
“Tyrone Mings is still a massive part of Villa and should be a massive part of Villa. There’s actually more responsibility on him now because he’s back to being that main centre-half, the defender that Villa are going to seriously rely on this season.
“So I think it was the right call to put him back in anyway, he’d always be in my team, I’m a massive fan of his.
“I think the injury to Diego Carlos, it definitely cements his place in the team for the foreseeable future. I think even if they get someone else in it will be someone to play next to Tyrone Mings.”
The luck for Carlos could hardly be worse, with a devastating injury destroying the start of his Villans career, as well as any hopes he had of going to the World Cup this winter.
But the previously embattled Mings has seen his position unexpectedly strengthened, as his restoration to the starting line-up saw the club record their first points of the new season, and he is now indisputably the primary man in the middle of the back line again.
He will feel as bad as anyone to see his teammate and rival knocked out, but all he can do is grasp the opportunity with both hands and run with it for the good of the team and himself for the rest of the campaign.
In other Aston Villa news, the club will now turn to the loan market in an attempt to plug the gap caused by the injury.