Exclusive Tyrone Mings interview: Aston Villa star overcomes injuries and mistakes as he talks about exciting times at Villa Park | Football news

When Tyrone Mings suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in last season's opener, no one needed to tell him it would be a long road back. Unfortunately, the Aston Villa and England defender has experienced it before. It wasn't pretty.

It was at Bournemouth, shortly after becoming their club record signing, that Mings damaged his anterior and medial ligaments minutes from his Premier League debut. That was almost ten years ago now and it sent Mings into a dark place.

He has since spoken of how he sought solace in alcohol, consumed by the feeling that he had lost everything, the thought of a life without football threatening the his entire identity. He has told the story of how he broke down in tears in Eddie Howe's office.

This time, older and wiser, he was always going to approach the challenge in a very different way. “It's been different. I wouldn't say it's been easier. It's just that I've got a bit more perspective. I've got kids now so that always helps ,” Mings explains Sky Sports.

“When I was at Bournemouth, it was a very uncertain time. I was still trying to make my way in the game and trying to prove to the fans that I would be a good signing. So it was a very difficult time to take. . This period has been difficult for various reasons.

“I felt I was playing well when I got injured. I felt like I was trying to establish myself in the manager's opinion and the team was doing well. So it was a tough time to sit out and watch other people build on all the work we had put together over the past years. “

Mings now has a routine, one that involves talking to his therapist regularly, keeping him in the right place. Gone are the days when his extracurricular activities were unproductive. That energy is successfully directed in a positive way.

“Every waking moment was spent trying to figure out how I was going to improve my knee,” he emphasizes. But he is involved in the Tyrone Mings Academy in Bristol, helping to provide fun opportunities for children in the area.And new interests too.

Through the PFA, he has taken a global football business management course. “I've really learned what it means to be a sports director or CEO so they won't be new things when I retire. I'm certainly not afraid of what comes after football.”

It shouldn't be at all. Mings has always been an outspoken speaker, whether he was explaining the reasons for players to take the knee against racism or going against the accusations of the Secretary of the Cheers, Matt Hancock, football players need to give back more.

Now 31, he cuts a confident and measured figure. Success comes after retirement. But ambitions remain to be achieved on the pitch and it is fortunate that, although he was out injured, Villa continued to go from strength to strength under Unai Emery.

The team he returns to is not only competing in the Champions League but succeeding in it, as they continue to claim towards the top of the Premier League table. As a result, the motivation for Mings is easy. New opportunities are emerging.

“People are always looking for new ideas, new inspirations, so the Champions League has certainly given the club a different feel. that too.

“It didn't really push me through rehab because it felt so far away from where I was at the time. I still had a lot of hurdles to overcome to get back on the field football. But now I'm here and part of it, it's a special moment in the club's history and it adds something.”

For Mings, released by Southampton in his youth, his mother wrote to every club in the Football League hoping to start his career only to go on the hard way through spells at Yate and Chippenham, it was an amazing journey.

Maybe that makes it a little more special for him when the Champions League music plays. He has won 18 caps for England, featuring at Euro 2020, but Europe's top club competition still represents another high, another marker on the way to the top.

It is true of several senior players at Villa. Ollie Watkins came through Exeter City's academy, making his Premier League debut at 24. Emiliano Martinez was still playing for Reading at the age of 26. One wonders if this is one of the secrets of the success.

“There are a lot of players with a lot of experience in the Champions League, but it's new as a team, it's new as a group, it's new that we're doing it together. the journey we've been on for so long now.”

He talks about winning a trophy with Villa. “Big on everyone's to-do list here.” And the feeling that they can “achieve something special together” – calling it an “exciting time” and talking about wanting to replicate Villa's glorious past success.

Last month, he made his Champions League debut. He was an incompetent man, picking up the ball by mistake to concede the penalty from which Club Brugge scored the only goal of the game. Emery said it was one of the worst mistakes he had seen in football.

Bad injury on his first game in the Premier League. Big mistake on his Champions League debut. Life always throws things at him. “If something's going to happen, it's usually going to happen to me,” he said, insisting he was unaffected by the mistake.

“I don't participate in the highs or lows of the emotions in the game. I'm average and I'm fairly unstable, I think, in terms of being ride those emotions.” He then says something particularly revealing about the way he thinks now.

“I wasn't upset by what happened because mistakes happen. And I think if that was going to happen to anybody, I'm glad it happened to me because I'm pretty sure I can handle it. My next game after that was Brentford I think.”

He had to wait a month, being an unused substitute for the next four games. But on his return to the Premier League after 16 months out, he was named man of the match in a 3-1 home win over Brentford that ended a run of eight without a win.

“The thing about the Bruges game is that I never came out of that game feeling any different than when I played against Brentford and got one in the game. It is certainly the result of the long hours of work put into shaping his own mind.

“The one I've been using since 2015 has been paid a monthly retainer,” he says of his therapist. “It's less about football now, just about my mood and life in general. One of the things I'm learning in my career is to be very calm when things happen in football.”

He says: “When the Bruges incident happened, some people didn't even bother to text me because they knew I would be fine. I can guarantee that whether we win 3-0 or lose 3-0, I will be the same person. when the next game comes around.”

Every team needs players like that. As for Villa, they are fifth in the Champions League table. One more win would see them through to the last 16 for sure. Beat Nottingham Forest on Saturday and they will move above Man City into fourth place in the Premier League as well.

“The most impressive thing last season was balancing European football to allow us to get the Champions League this year. The big challenge is again: how do you balance the Champions League games without compromising your form in the Premier League?

“I think historically teams that have broken into the Champions League have struggled with that because of squad size and emotions and travel so I think it's been We have turned the team around and the manager is very calm and has also helped.

“There was a time when we had a few bad results and it felt like everything was going against us, but it's time to be calm and see the bigger picture. The Champions League and the Premier League.”

Like the lows, Mings plans to take the highs in his stride. But he has come too far and worked too hard not to like it. “It feels good here. Being back and part of it is just as good and healthy as before. I loved it before and I love it now.”

Watch Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa live on Sky Sports Premier League this Saturday from 5pm; kick off 5.30pm