After Unai Emery twice pointed to his temple inferring an issue with mindset following the loss to Monaco, the guessing games began for Aston Villa fans.
He was referring to Leon Bailey, some suggested, with the winger’s ineffective display defined by him having fewer touches than goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, while others believed Villa’s head coach was calling out Tyrone Mings, whose misplaced pass led to the corner that produced Monaco’s winner.
In reality, Emery was not singling any one player out, suggesting “some are not following the plan”, and even went on to namedrop Mings among the handful “doing everything we were planning”.
Nevertheless, it was a second mistake from Mings, in his second Champions League appearance, that led to Villa’s second defeat of this league phase – both of which have ended 1-0.
He fronted up to the cameras afterwards with an admirable honesty that is nothing new – “I gave a poor ball away leading to the corner, didn’t defend the corner very well,” he said – but his stock is beginning to fall.
At 31, he is no longer the stalwart of Villa’s defence, but the back-up who has been thrust into the starting line-up sooner than Emery would have surely liked.
Pau Torres’s injury has resulted in Mings starting every game this year, and it had been going relatively smoothly thanks to two wins and a draw in the Premier League, and an FA Cup victory over West Ham to boot.
Aston Villa centre-backs – minutes and starts this season
- Tyrone Mings – 766 mins – eight starts
- Diego Carlos – 1,403 mins – 14 starts*
- Pau Torres – 2,024 mins – 23 starts
- Ezri Konsa – 2,352 mins – 27 starts (16 at CB)
*has moved to Fenerbahce in January transfer window
The Monaco defeat put an end to Villa’s promising start to 2025, however, and with it Emery fumed like he seldom has done during this tenure, seething at the Stade Louis II after his side relinquished their grip on a top-eight finish in the Champions League.
Now, bypassing the February knockout play-off round is anything but certain, and while Villa still boast one of the best defensive records in Europe, it is difficult to ignore the fact two of their four goals conceded were the result of Mings’ mistakes.
Patience is therefore wearing thin, and amid reported interest in Sevilla’s Loic Bade, it begs the question of what the future holds for one of Villa’s most faithful servants.
Mings, after all, is one of just four players in the current squad who featured in their 2018-19 campaign, the season they returned to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs.
His performances on loan from Bournemouth that second half of the season were enough to convince Villa to spend £20m and make the signing permanent that summer.
In their first season back in the big time, only Jack Grealish clocked more minutes than Mings, who would make his England debut in October 2019.
Mings’ importance rarely dwindled as the seasons passed, and although Steven Gerrard controversially stripped him of the captaincy in the summer of 2022, he quickly re-established himself in the starting XI, knuckling down when others may have thrown toys.
The tide turned through sheer bad luck, when Mings suffered the second ACL injury of his career in August 2023.
It kept him out for 445 days, making for more than 900 days out combined over the course of the two knee injuries, and put the onus on the newly-signed Torres to hit the ground running.
It spelled the end of Mings’ partnership with Ezri Konsa, which had been a cornerstone of Villa’s gradual rise up the table, and while that is worth remembering, it would appear the current rekindling of this centre-back duo is only likely to be short-lived.
The sale of Diego Carlos to Fenerbahce does mean Mings can expect his run in the side to continue, but whether Villa will ever see the pre-ACL Mings again is certainly up for debate.
It is worth noting Virgil van Dijk emphatically brushed aside the assumption he would never return to his pre-ACL injury levels, meaning Mings could yet do the same.
But with Villa having gone up a rung – or two, based on their jump from the Conference League to Champions League – during his injury absence, he is in danger of becoming a player who slips below the standard required, and could soon be viewed as surplus to requirements.
That is not the case now, but with his contract expiring in 2026, it could be that Villa are willing to listen to offers this summer, which will mark the club’s last chance to fetch a decent fee for the defender.
It would not be a surprise, but in the meantime Mings has a chance to prove his career trajectory is not at odds with Villa’s ambitions.
He has got the mentality to prove his doubters wrong, but whether the ability can follow suit in this unforgiving post-injury world, especially given he is now into his thirties, well that is another matter entirely.
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