Tyrone Mings is unlikely to play again this season and his hopes of making a potential England Euro 2024 squad have also suffered a major blow after he sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Mings was carried off on a stretcher and replaced by Pau Torres after picking up the serious knee injury after an innocuous collision with Alexander Isak in Aston Villa’s 5-1 defeat at Newcastle on Saturday.
The 30-year-old defender is set to miss between seven and nine months of action after undergoing surgery. The former Villa captain had established himself as a first-choice centre-back under Unai Emery after being dropped at the start of last season. Villa said Mings’s “significant” injury required a “lengthy rehabilitation process”.
It represents a cruel start to the season for Mings, a popular and influential leader for Villa, who missed 15 months of action after damaging cruciate and medial knee ligaments six minutes into his Bournemouth debut in 2015. At the time he was Bournemouth’s £8m record signing under the now Newcastle manager Eddie Howe.
Mings became the second Villa player to sustain an anterior cruciate ligament injury in four days after Emiliano Buendía suffered the same fate at the end of training last Wednesday.
In a statement on Monday Mings said: “I’ll now give everything off the pitch to come back even better, whilst supporting the team.” He also thanked Newcastle, tweeting: “The applause, the messages & the medical support I received on the day was really appreciated.”
Mings, who has 18 England caps, was left out of Gareth Southgate’s squad for Qatar but was recalled for Euro 2024 qualifiers in June. He did not feature against North Macedonia or Malta, with Marc Guéhi, John Stones and Harry Maguire preferred. He has, however, moved ahead of Conor Coady in the pecking order after Coady’s move to the Championship side Leicester.
It remains to be seen whether Villa search for defensive reinforcements, with Torres, Diego Carlos and Calum Chambers centre-back options, but they are pushing to sign the Galatasaray attacking midfielder Nicolò Zaniolo, who came close to joining Bournemouth in January. Villa also explored a deal for Leeds’s Jack Harrison, who has joined Everton.
The 20-year-old midfielder Aaron Ramsey is inching closer to a £14m move to Burnley, which has been delayed by Villa’s desire for a buyback clause. Another Villa youngster, the striker Cameron Archer, 21, is wanted by Sheffield United.
