Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings has provided a promising injury update as he continues his recovery from a serious knee injury he sustained last August.
The 31-year-old suffered the setback in our Premier League opening-weekend defeat at Newcastle Utd, and he has been sidelined since and forced to go through a gruelling rehabilitation process.
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While the England international opted to avoid posting publicly in the initial months that followed, he has since revealed that he documented the process and has been more open to sharing updates as to how the recovery has gone.
It’s not expected that we will see him feature this season as with just a month remaining in the campaign and with the level at which he would need to be at in terms of fitness and sharpness, it doesn’t seem worth the risk if even a realistic target.
Mings hasn’t yet returned to group training with the rest of the squad, and so he’ll likely be targeting pre-season as the time to step up his comeback.
For now though, he has revealed some promising new details as he provided an update on his rehab, noting that both his leg and knee are in a much stronger state now having worked not only to recover from the injury itself, but the impact that it had on his body having been prevented from training for a significant period.
“The leg is in a good place, the knee is in a good place,” he said on Instagram. “Being back at the club [after doing part of rehab in Philadelphia] is amazing, and I get to see everybody and get to feel the energy and love from everybody, and also reciprocate that.
“When I look to just how far I’ve come, I’m extremely proud of the progress that we’ve made and really the only thing that gets me through some of the sessions is getting back out at Villa Park, and hearing the fans chanting my name, the roar of a goal and being back out on the training pitch with my teammates. All those things that I can start to feel now that they’re getting closer.”
Although he may not be able to make his presence and influence felt on the pitch this season, Mings will no doubt be an important voice in the dressing room and at the training ground in terms of encouraging his teammates as we look to secure a top-four finish this season.
We’ve seen him attend home games more recently as well as continuing to do individual work at Bodymoor Heath along with Emiliano Buendia, who is also recovery from a serious knee injury, and when the duo are ready to make their long-awaited comebacks, it will be some reception that greets them from the Villa faithful.
For now though, it’s great to see Mings doing well physically and in terms of his mental strength to come back from another massive setback, and we’ll hopefully see him over the summer returning to action and pushing for a starting spot again next season.