Tyrone Mings is proving to be a smart signing for Aston Villa

A lot of eyebrows were raised when newly-promoted Aston Villa shelled out £26.5million to sign Tyrone Mings permanently from Bournemouth.

Tyrone Mings, 26, joined Aston Villa on loan from Bournemouth in January 2019 for the rest of last season and did well for the club. The Bath-born defender made 18 appearances in the Championship for Villa during the second half of last season, scoring two goals in the process.

He was highly influential, forming a strong partnership with on-loan Manchester United man Axel Tuanzebe at the back, as Dean Smith’s side clinched promotion to the Premier League from the Championship via the play-offs.

Villa started the Premier League season poorly, losing to Tottenham and Bournemouth respectively. However, they bounced back last week with a solid 2-0 victory over Everton at a jam-packed Villa Park.

The victory was absolutely needed to ease some pressure off Smith, who was understandably concerned after his team’s performance in the first two games.

It was a win built on the imperious defensive presence of Mings, ably partnered by new signing Bjorn Engels. At the age of 26, he is arguably at the peak of his powers, having already surpassed for Villa the appearances he had managed in four injury-hit years at Bournemouth.

The versatile defender never really got going at Bournemouth after the ACL knee injury that kept him out of first-team action for 15 months.

But he hasn’t taken much time to become Villa’s defensive spine that makes Smith believe the 26-year-old is ready for England call-up, having been watched by Gareth Southgate during Friday’s 2-0 victory against Everton ahead of the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo.

Mings had been outstanding for Villa in the Championship, but things didn’t work out for him at Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth; so he had yet to really prove himself at the highest level.

Three games into the new season, however, the ex-Ipswich Town defender is well on his way to proving Villa’s decision to spend so much money.

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Smith’s men may have only picked up three points from three games, but Mings has already proven how important he’ll be for this team throughout the season.

Verdict

During this new period where Villa will have to fight tooth and nail to maintain their top-flight status, Mings will need to keep himself fit as much as he can.

The 26-year-old still has a lot to do to prove that Villa were right to sign him permanently from Bournemouth. Based on the three games, however, the signs are undeniably positive.