Tyrone Deon Mings (born 13 March 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Premier League club Aston Villa and the England national team.
Club career
Early career
Mings was born in Bath, Avon[5] to former non-League striker Adie Mings. Mings joined Southampton in 2001 as an eight-year-old, but was released in 2009 when the youth budget was axed.[6] After leaving Southampton, he attended Millfield school in Somerset for two years on a football scholarship. After leaving school, Mings signed for non-league side Yate Town in Gloucestershire. In the summer of 2012, he considered quitting football before eventually signing for his home town team Chippenham Town.[7] Mings combined his non-league career with jobs as a barman and a mortgage advisor.[8]
Ipswich Town
Mings signed for Ipswich Town in 2013 after a short trial for a fee of £10,000 and an agreement for Ipswich to play a pre-season game against Chippenham.[7][9] On 4 May 2013, Mings made his debut for Ipswich on the last day of the 2012–13 season against Burnley.[9] He went on into the 2013–14 season starting two more games due to the suspension of Aaron Cresswell. On 4 January 2014, Mings started an FA Cup tie against Preston North End at right back instead of his usual left back role.[10]
Following Aaron Cresswell's transfer to West Ham United, Mings was handed the number 3 shirt. Because of this, Mings offered to purchase new shirts for two fans who had bought shirts with his old number 15 printed on the back.[11]
On transfer deadline day summer 2014, Mings was subject to a £3 million pound bid from Crystal Palace which was rejected by Ipswich. On 20 September 2014, Mings signed a new three-year contract with Ipswich.[12] On 10 October 2014, Mings won the Championship Player of the Month award for September.[13] He scored his first goal for the club on 24 February 2015, netting the opening goal in a 4–2 home win over Birmingham City at Portman Road.[14]
AFC Bournemouth
On 26 June 2015, Mings signed for newly promoted Premier League club AFC Bournemouth on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee, reported to be £8 million.[15]
Mings made his Premier League debut for Bournemouth on 29 August 2015 in a 1–1 draw with Leicester City. However, he suffered a knee injury six minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute.[16] On 3 September 2015, it was confirmed that Mings' injury would mean that he would be sidelined for between 9 and 12 months.[17] He made his comeback in a 3–0 defeat to Millwall in the third round of the FA Cup on 7 January 2017.[18]
On 8 March 2017, Mings was banned by the FA for five matches following an alleged stamp on Zlatan Ibrahimović in a match against Manchester United on the previous weekend.[19][20][21]
Aston Villa
On 31 January 2019, Mings joined Aston Villa on loan for the rest of the season.[22] He made his Villa debut on 2 February against Reading. The match was the subject of controversy following an incident where Mings stepped on the face of Reading forward Nélson Oliveira after a tussle for the ball. Oliveira was forced off with deep gashes to his forehead and nose.[23][24][25] Mings later apologised, insisting that it was not intentional.[26] As referee Geoff Eltringham had seen the incident and determined that it was accidental, no retrospective action was taken.[27]
Mings scored his first Aston Villa goal in his second game, on 8 February 2019. He scored in the 82nd minute of the home game against Sheffield United. At that point, Aston Villa had been losing 3–0, but they went on to complete a late comeback to draw the game 3–3.[28] Despite Villa's poor run of form at that time, Mings was a standout performer and quickly became a fan favourite despite only recently arriving from Bournemouth. Villa had a change in form after the return of Jack Grealish from injury, during which Villa picked up a 10-game winning streak, in the fifth of which Mings scored the winning goal in a 2–1 win over Blackburn Rovers.[29] On 27 May 2019, Mings played in the 2018–19 EFL Championship Play-off Final, where he helped Villa to defeat Derby County 2–1, and gain promotion to the Premier League.[30]
Mings signed for Aston Villa permanently on 8 July 2019.[31] The fee was believe to be an initial £20million, with add-ons that could total £25million.[32] After the UK government announced resumption of sports and Premier League announced the return of teams as part of “Project Restart” from June 17, Mings claimed that the players were the last to be consulted and were only treated as “commodities in the game”. The Premier League has not commented on Mings’ statement as of June 1.[33]
International career
As well as being eligible for England, Mings was also eligible for Barbados through his paternal grandparents.[34] His father Adie turned down a call-up from Barbados during his own playing career.[35] Mings received his first England call-up in August 2019 when he was announced as part of the squad for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo.[36] Mings earned his first senior England cap, in a 0–6 win away to Bulgaria, in October 2019, playing the entire match. The match was overshadowed by racist chants from Bulgarian fans, which was reported by Mings to captain Harry Kane who then reported it to the referee. This activated standard UEFA protocol, which largely put a stop to the chanting.[37]
Personal life
Mings is the son of Adie Mings, a former striker with non-league Bath City and Gloucester City who currently works as a scout for Chelsea.[38]
Off the field, Mings has gained a reputation for charitable and generous acts.[39] He spent Christmas Day 2013 feeding homeless people[40] and when he was given the number 3 shirt by Ipswich at the beginning of the 2014–15 season, he replaced the shirts of fans who had already bought ones with his old number on the back.[11] Mings started his own youth footballing academy called The Tyrone Mings Academy that is based in Birmingham, England. It is aimed at children aged 6 to 16.[41]
Outside of football, Mings has a business interest in an interior design company in Bournemouth.[42]
