Aston Villa and England defender Tyrone Mings feared his career was over after exhausting 'all options' of recovery following a horrific ACL injury suffered on the opening day of last season.
Mings underwent three operations to solve the problem and was finally rewarded for his perseverance when he played his first Premier League game in 15 months in the 3-1 win against Brentford on Wednesday.
Trying to remain calm and collected, the popular 31-year-old admitted: 'There were times when I really thought I wouldn't be able to recover from this knee injury, it was so serious and so complicated.
'There were many setbacks. Back in April, I thought I had pretty much exhausted the possibilities of what I can do here.
“There were definitely days when I thought I had been banging my head against the wall for a few months and making no progress.”
Mings' life was turned upside down when he was taken off with serious damage to his anterior cruciate ligament in the first half of Villa's 5-1 defeat to Newcastle in August 2023.
He wasn't able to begin his recovery for another three months until surgery removed the pins from his cartilage.
Due to muscle wasting, his right leg was thinner than his left and in the summer he spent a further three weeks undergoing further rehabilitation in America.
Although his Champions League comeback was marred last month by conceding a penalty against Bruges by picking up the ball, his return to the Premier League this week was a red letter for the 31-year-old, who has 18 caps for England won.
He impressed in the center of defense as Villa recorded their first win in nine games.
'The return journey was absolutely terrible. I wondered what kept me going; personal pride, family, or dreams of nights like this. It was a little bit of everything,” he explained.
'I'm a big believer in visualization and I imagined what it would be like to be back at Villa Park and win.
'The support and all the messages were really heart-warming, for which I sincerely thank the Villa fans. It was a good feeling.
'I've had good days, bad days, bad hours. It means I can put everything into context and I will be calmer after a win or loss.
“When I think about where I've been, bad days in football don't seem so bad.
'I never thought: 'I'm never going to play football again', but there were certainly days when I thought: 'Will I?' if that makes sense.'
Mings reached his lowest point at Easter, when he had already been out for eight months and was still unable to train consistently. “Very stop-start,” is how he described it.
A visit to knee specialist Bill Knowles just outside Philadelphia in May gave him extra motivation and he pushed himself to the point of exhaustion to make himself available to Unai Emery this season.
The Villa boss says it is only in recent weeks that Mings has been able to take part in all the sessions without needing a break.
“It's been a long time,” Emery nodded. “It's fantastic news, not just for Tyrone, but for the doctors too. It's good for everyone.'
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