Aston Villa ‘boost’ Champions League hopes after Unai Emery shares new Tyrone Mings update
Aston Villa will have received a “boost” to their hopes of Champions League qualification this season after Tyrone Mings returned to training, according to Alan Hutton.
Reports emerged from Fabrizio Romano on X (15 February) that the England international had returned to first-team training, with Villa and Emery hoping to have the centre-back fully fit and available for selection as soon as possible.
Emery has slightly tempered those expectations by insisting that Mings is still a long way away from returning to the first-team playing squad and he still doesn’t expect the 30-year-old to play a part in the final months of the season.
While Hutton agrees that Villa have made the right decision by not trying to rush Mings back into the fold, he has suggested that the defender’s presence around the training ground alone will be a huge boost to his teammates.
“I think it will be really good,” Hutton told Villa News.
“He’s obviously been away and done loads of rehab. I think he was in America among different things so he has been working ever so hard and that’s the type of character that he is.
“To have him around the building, speaking to everyone as somebody to lean on that has been there before, I think that always helps.
“He’s a big personality and I think you always need that and the boys will get a boost seeing him as well. Coming back from a serious injury, you never know how people are going to react to that so for him to be there, I think it helps both sides.
“I’m just glad to see him back he should take his time, don’t rush him back and he can just focus on himself. But it is good to see him back.”
Will Tyrone Mings play for Aston Villa this season?
There were plenty of people in and around Villa Park who feared the worst when Mings went down on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, but both the defender and Villa have managed to cope with the injury.
Emery has been able to rely on the impressive form of Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Clement Lenglet to propel his side up the table while Mings has been able to focus entirely on his rehabilitation and get back to full training.
Hopefully, it won’t be too long until supporters see him back in claret and blue, but until then, Mings will still have a huge role to play off of the playing field.
In other Aston Villa news, Hutton believes that teams will already be sniffing around Ollie Watkins ahead of a summer transfer
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