Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings says his recovery from a long-term knee injury was “awful” and led to doubts about whether he would ever play again.
Mings sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury for the second time in his career in August 2023 during Villa’s fixture away to Newcastle United. Recovery was arduous, with the England international also suffering cartilage damage.
He suffered muscle atrophy in his right leg and psychological challenges given this was his second ACL and his first took 473 days to recover from. This time, the 31-year-old was out of action for 445 days, returning in October’s Carabao Cup defeat against Crystal Palace. Mings made his first Premier League start on Wednesday in the 3-1 victory at Brentford.
“It was (the journey back) awful, absolutely awful,” said Mings, speaking after the game against Brentford. “But I’ve done it before and I did it again. I was always wondering what was keeping me going, whether it was nights like tonight, family, or personal pride. It was a little bit of everything. When times get tough, you ask, ‘What am I still doing this for?’
“The messages I had from them (supporters), was really heartwarming and played a big part. I thank the Villa fans for that because the roar when your name is called out and all of those things add up to my journey back. Tonight was a good feeling.”
As The Athletic has detailed, Mings’ rehabilitation was broken down into stages. He flew to Philadelphia for three weeks and worked with an ACL specialist — someone he had spent time with during his previous injury at Bournemouth.
“You have good days, bad days, good hours, bad hours,” said Mings. “But I am a big believer in visualisation. I played tonight over in my head many, many times before, so when you step back out there I feel very comfortable and like I have never been away because of the mental work I have done.
“It also means I have seen way worse in the last 16, 17 months than bad days in football, which means I can contextualise it a little bit and means I am very calm after a loss or bad performance.
“Like (there were) times when I genuinely did think I would not be able to recover from this knee injury, such was the severity of it and the complications with it. When I think of where I have been, bad days in football don’t seem too bad.”
Mings had three stints in the U.S. as well as a period in Qatar. Progress was not straightforward; there were periods when he felt ahead of schedule — Unai Emery’s long-standing prediction was that he would be available to train in September — running on the grass and gently increasing his workload. At other times, optimism would fracture after frustrating setbacks.
“I think probably around April of this year (was the low point),” he said. “The journey was very stop-start. Right up until October and November of last year, I was still having operations to get the knee right, so the rehab didn’t really start until that point.
“The only thing you do in that situation is keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going. That is why I say you have to draw on every part of internal and external motivation you have. There are different days and different things.
“Sometimes when you are away from home, away from family, you think if the family think I can do this, then I sure as hell will keep turning up every day and doing the work.”
Inside Tyrone Mings’ 445-day road to recovery
(Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
