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View: Tyrone Mings four-year journey at Aston Villa has certainly been a rollercoaster ride
On the January transfer deadline of 2019, Aston Villa snapped up a centre-back by the name of Tyrone Mings on a loan deal from Bournemouth.
The then-25-year-old, who liked to operate either as a left-back or in the heart of the defence, was brought to Villa Park to bolster the club’s chances of promotion to the Premier League.
Mings’ journey at Aston Villa has certainly had its ups and downs, but this piece of business now looks to be getting better and better by the month.
In his first few months under Dean Smith, Mings would become a key cog in the side that won ten consecutive games for the first time in the club’s history.
It was no coincidence that Mings’ arrival sparked a promotion run that ended in glory at Wembley against Frank Lampard’s Derby County side, with the tall, imposing centre-back proving himself a cut above the rest in the Championship.
Ming would play all but four minutes of the play-off matches as they edged past the Rams in the famous 2-1 victory at Wembley.
After making Villa Park his permanent home later that summer for a fee of £26.5million, he earnt his first England call-up shortly afterwards and was used by Gareth Southgate in friendlies against Bulgaria and Kosovo.
His record to this day for his country is near-miraculous, registering a staggering 14 clean sheets in just 18 appearances.
After settling into Premier League life alongside centre-back partner Ezri Konsa in the West Midlands over the next two seasons, the Englishman would go on to pick the captain’s armband under Smith and become the lynchpin of Villa’s defence.
However, after the sacking of Smith, and the appointment of Gerrard, it all started to go downhill.
Within three months of the 2021/22 season finishing, Mings lost his place in the England setup, was relieved of the Villa captaincy and even dropped from the team’s starting XI.
His form had been a little indifferent towards the latter stages of the 2021/22 season, yes, but it was no worse than his defensive counterparts. Mings continues to split opinions among the fanbase to this day, but it was curious to see Gerrard place the sole blame for his side’s defensive shortcomings on the Englishman’s shoulders.
He has certainly made mistakes over his Villa career, but the stats don’t lie.
Before this season, in the 12 matches that Mings had been omitted from the starting lineup, Villa had lost eight times and won just twice.
His winning influence has been sparked back into life since the arrival of Unai Emery as manager, with the centre-back playing a role in every one of the club’s league games since November. A run of five wins from the past seven games has greeted Mings’ return to the team, and he is continuing to move from strength to strength under Emery.
It has certainly been a rollercoaster ride for Mings during his time at Aston Villa, but you can’t help but feel that the best is yet to come.
In other Aston Villa news, Carla Ward must find a contingency plan in case Rachel Daly gets injured for her side this season.