When Tyrone Mings suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the opening game of last season, no one needed to tell him it would be a long road back. Unfortunately, the Aston Villa and England defender has seen it happen before. It wasn't pretty.
It was at Bournemouth, shortly after his club record signing, that Mings damaged his anterior and medial ligaments just minutes after his Premier League debut. That was almost ten years ago now and it left Mings in a dark place.
He has since told how he sought solace in alcohol, being consumed by the feeling of having lost everything, the thought of a life without football threatening his entire identity. He has told how he burst into tears in Eddie Howe's office.
This time, older and wiser, he would always approach the challenge very differently. “It's been different. I wouldn't say it's been easier. It's just that I have a bit more perspective. I have children now so that always helps,” Mings told Sky Sports.
“When I was at Bournemouth it was a very uncertain time. I was still trying to find my way in the game and trying to prove to the fans that I would be a good signing. So the timing of it was very difficult to understand. ” This time has been difficult for several reasons.
“I felt like I was playing well when I got injured. I felt like I was trying to establish myself in the manager's mind and the team was doing well. So it was a difficult time to sit out and see how other people built on all the good.” work we had done together in recent years.”
Mings is now in a routine, regularly talking to his therapist and keeping him in the right headspace. Gone are the days when his extracurricular activities were counterproductive. That energy has been successfully channeled in a positive way.
“Every waking minute was spent trying to figure out how to get my knee better,” he points out. But there is also his involvement with the Tyrone Mings Academy in Bristol, with which he offers fun opportunities to children in the region. And also new interests.
He completed a global football business management course through the PFA. “I've really learned what it means to be a sporting director or CEO, so it won't be new things when I retire. I'm certainly not afraid of what comes after football.”
Nor should he be. Mings has always been an eloquent spokesperson, whether explaining the reasons why players take the knee in their opposition to racism, or refuting then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock's claims that footballers needed to give more back.
Now 31, he has a confident and measured figure. Success comes after retirement. But there are still ambitions to fulfill on the pitch and he is fortunate that, while he was away through injury, Villa went from strength to strength under Unai Emery.
The team he returns to is one that is not only competing in the Champions League, but thriving in it, as it continues to claim its place at the top of the Premier League. As a result, the motivation for Mings is simple. New opportunities keep emerging.
“People are always looking for new ideas, new incentives, so the Champions League has certainly given a different feeling around the club. You see it in front of the fans at Villa Park or at away games. It's certainly a different feeling and the players feel imagine that too.
“It didn't really push me through the rehab because it felt so far away from where I was at the time. I still had to overcome a lot of hurdles to get back on the football field. But now I'm here and I'm part of it “It is a special time in the club's history and it adds something.”
For Mings, who was released by Southampton as a youngster and wrote his mother to every club in the Football League in the hope of boosting his career so he could progress the hard way via spells at Yate and Chippenham, it was a great trip.
Maybe that makes it a little more special for him when the Champions League music plays. He has won 18 caps for England, including at the 2020 European Championship, but Europe's premier club competition still represents a new high, a milestone on his route to the top.
This applies to a number of Villa's senior players. Ollie Watkins came through Exeter City's academy and made his Premier League debut at the age of 24. Emiliano Martinez was still playing for Reading at the age of 26. You might wonder if this is one of the secrets to their success.
“There are a few players with a lot of Champions League experience, but it's new as a team, it's new as a group, it's new that we do it together. A lot of players have also bought into the club. been doing it for so long.”
He's talking about winning a trophy with Villa. “On everyone's to-do list here.” And the feeling that they can 'achieve something special together' – calling this an 'exciting time' and talking about wanting to replicate Villa's glorious past successes.
He made his Champions League debut last month. It was an unfavorable situation, with the ball accidentally picked up to score the penalty, from which Club Brugge scored the only goal of the match. Emery called it one of the worst mistakes he has seen in football.
A serious injury on his Premier League debut. A serious mistake on his Champions League debut. Life keeps throwing things at him. “If something is going to happen, it will usually happen to me,” he says, emphasizing that the mistake did not affect him.
“I don't participate in the extreme highs or extreme lows of the emotions in the game. I'm pretty level-headed and I'm pretty unflappable, I think, when it comes to managing those emotions.” He then says something particularly revealing about the way he thinks now.
“I wasn't frustrated with what happened myself, because mistakes happen. And I think if that were to happen to anyone, I'm glad it happened to me because I'm pretty sure I could deal with it. My next game after that was Brentford, I think.”
He had to wait a month, as he was an unused substitute for the next four games. But when he made his return to the Premier League after 16 months, he was named player of the match in a 3–1 home win over Brentford, which ended a run of eight without a win.
“The special thing about the match against Bruges is that I never left that match with a different feeling than when I played against Brentford and got the man in the match.” It's definitely a product of the long hours he put into shaping his own mentality.
“The guy I work with has been getting a monthly retainer since 2015,” he says of his therapist. “It has less to do with football now and more to do with my well-being and life in general. One of the lessons of my career is that I have to be very calm when things happen in football.”
He adds: “When the incident happened in Bruges, some people didn't even bother to text me because they knew I would be fine. I can promise that whether we win 3-0 or lose 3-0, I will be the same person. when the next game comes.”
Every team needs players like that. As for Villa, they are fifth in the Champions League. Another win would certainly take them into the last sixteen. Beat Nottingham Forest on Saturday and they will rise above Man City into fourth place in the Premier League.
“The most impressive thing of last season was balancing European football so that we can win the Champions League this year. The big challenge again is how to balance Champions League matches without affecting your Premier League form affects?”
“I think teams that have historically broken into the Champions League have struggled to do so because of the size of the squad, the emotions and the travelling, so I think the fact that we have been able to change the squad and that the manager is also very being calm has helped.
“There was a period where we had some bad results and it felt like everything was going against us, but it's time to calm down and see the bigger picture. I think we can be proud of where we are now, both in the Champions League and the Premier League.”
Just like the lows, Mings plans to take the highs in his stride. But he's come too far and worked too hard not to enjoy it. “There's a good feeling here. Being back and being part of it is just as impactful and beneficial as before. I loved it before and I love it now.”
Watch Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa live on the Sky Sports Premier League this Saturday from 5pm; starting at 5:30 PM
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