Aston Villa have confirmed that Tyrone Mings has suffered a serious knee injury and will now face a significant spell on the sidelines.
The 30-year-old sustained the injury during our defeat at Newcastle Utd this past weekend, with our defensive stalwart landing awkwardly while racing back and challenging for the ball.
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Given his reaction, there was immediate concern that it was serious, and having been stretchered off with a protective brace on, that did little to allay fears at the time.
Further, Sky Sports confirmed on their live broadcast that Mings had been taken to a local hospital for scans, and with Unai Emery conceded that it ‘doesn’t look good’ in all of his post-match interviews, there was real concern that Mings would be out for some time.
As per the club’s statement, they’ve now confirmed that he has suffered a significant knee injury, and having undergone scans, it has become clear that he will require surgery and faces a lengthy rehabilitation process.
It’s a huge blow for Villa given the influence Mings has in our backline, from his experience and leadership to organise the defence to his physicality and defensive solidity that has been key in our resurgence under Emery.
The statistics and results show that we don’t fare particularly well in his absence, and so while we wish him the very best in his recovery and hope that it’s a speedy one, Emery has a real task on his hands to fill that void and ensure we remain a tight defensive unit.
Summer signing Pau Torres will play a fundamental role in that alongside Ezri Konsa and Diego Carlos, while we showed in pre-season that we have the versatility and flexibility in our options to find other ways to line up by shifting Torres and Konsa to full-back if the opposition and situation allows for that to be the more effective way.
Further, it remains to be seen if that forces us to bring in another option in that department now too, but losing Mings, just days after Emiliano Buendia suffered a serious knee injury of his own, will come as a massive blow for all concerned, and this Villa side will need to show resilience and character to deal with the horrible adversity that has come their way this past week.
