Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has provided an update on Tyrone Mings as he edges closer to making his comeback from a serious knee injury.
The 31-year-old sustained the setback in our Premier League season opener last season at Newcastle Utd, and he has been sidelined since having gone through a gruelling rehabilitation process.
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While Emiliano Buendia has since returned to action after suffering a similar blow at an almost identical time, the wait has continued for Mings to resume group training and get playing time to complete his recovery, but as of yet, he hasn’t been able to having not travelled with the squad for our pre-season tour in the USA.
Fortunately though, Emery delivered good news on the England international as he expects him back from September onwards, while the Villa boss reiterated that he’s happy with his current centre-half options with Ezri Konsa set to return to training next week too after his extended break following his international exploits earlier this summer.
“We are without two players [centre-backs],” he told the media after our defeat to RB Leipzig in New Jersey in midweek. “One is recovering and close to starting to train with us again when we are back in Birmingham, [that] is Tyrone Mings.
“We have in the squad as well Konsa, but he is not here because of when he finished with his national team. He is coming back with us next week. We are without those two players. I think Tyrone Mings is going to be available after September, hopefully even available in September to play and to train normally. With Konsa, we have enough centre-backs.”
There has been a slight concern over how thin we are in central defence, given the likes of Amadou Onana and Leander Dendoncker had to fill the void left behind by Diego Carlos after his red card against Leipzig, while we don’t have another left-sided centre-half behind Pau Torres until Mings comes back.
Further, given he’s been out for so long, there is naturally a sense of anxiousness over what condition he’ll come back in and if he’s able to reach his previous levels or not, and so it’s a pivotal decision from Emery and our recruitment team to ensure that we have enough quality competition and depth in that department.
Based on his comments above though, it sounds as though the Basque coach has full belief in Mings coming back and being a key player for him, but time will tell if he opts to make any additional moves in the transfer market to strengthen before the window closes.
In terms of his recovery though, it’s a boost to hear that Mings could start group training next week when his teammates return to Bodymoor Heath, and he’ll be stepping up his comeback next month to hopefully be back in contention to feature as we look to compete on multiple fronts this season.
