The centre-back has opened up about the full extent of the knee injury that sidelined him for more than 14 months and thanked supporters for helping him through the darkest periods of his recovery.


Mings underwent three operations in the space of three months after damaging ligaments in his right knee on opening day of last season, before beginning a grueling rehabilitation that included three trips to a specialist in the US.


He made his first Premier League appearance in almost 16 months during Wednesday’s 3-1 win over Brentford and then explained how his struggles had given him a fresh perspective on football and life.


Mings said: “(There were) times when I really thought I wouldn’t be able to recover from this knee injury, so serious was the injury and the complications that came with it.


“When I think about where I’ve been, bad days in football don’t seem so bad.”


When asked if he was afraid his career would be over, he replied: “Yes, but not with any fatalism.


“I didn’t quite think ‘this is it,’ but there were definitely days where I thought I had been banging my head against a brick wall for a few months and wasn’t seeing any progress. When will something change?


“I never thought: ‘I’m never going to play football again’. But there were definitely days when I thought, should I do that? If that makes sense.”


Mings previously suffered a knee ligament injury in his left knee while playing for Bournemouth in 2015 and asked to describe the recovery process. He continued: “Horrible, absolutely terrible. But I’ve done it before and I did it again.


“I always wondered what kept me going, whether it was nights like tonight, family or personal pride.


“It was a bit of everything, that in difficult times you ask: what am I still doing this for?


“I really enjoyed Wednesday and certainly being back at Villa Park was one of the things that made me think: wow, imagine the evening?


“That was definitely a big part of it, and the fans and the messages I got from them were really heartwarming and played a big part.


“I thank the Villa fans for that, honestly I do that because the roar when your name is called and all those things add up to my journey back and the feeling that we are in this together. Wednesday was a good feeling.”


Mings, who thanked Unai Emery and his staff for their support during his recovery, spent extended time with renowned rehabilitation specialist Bill Knowles near his base in Philadelphia.


The 31-year-old, who has made more than 160 appearances for Villa since first joining the club on loan in early 2019, explained how the low point of his journey came in April this year, just before his final trip to the USA


Mings said: “The journey was very stop-start, stop-start.


“I had knee surgery until October and November last year, so the rehabilitation really started then.


“There were a lot of setbacks, so it was probably April. I thought, ‘I’ve pretty much exhausted all the options I can do here.’


“Honestly, all you do in a situation like that is keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going.


“That’s why I say you should use every bit of internal and external motivation you have.


“There are different days and different things. Sometimes when you’re away from home, away from family – I’ve had a lot of time in America – you think if the family thinks I can do this, then surely I’ll continue to show up every day and do the work.


“You have good days, bad days, good hours, bad hours.


“But I am a big believer in visualization. I have played Wednesday in my head many times.


“So when you step out there again, I feel very comfortable and like I’ve never been out because of the mental work I’ve done before.


“It also means that in the last 16, 17 months I have seen much worse days than bad days in football, which means I can contextualise it a bit and I am very calm after losing bad performances.


“Even after a victory I am quite calm. I think it allows me to look at football with a very clear focus and think that this is what I have worked for and move on to the next one.”


The next one is at home to Southampton tomorrow and while Mings is likely to get his minutes for now, his performance against Brentford will have given Emery a selection headache.


“Two months ago he had to train for two days and stop one day to feel good and strong in his knee again,” said the Villa boss.


“But in the last month he has been consistent, not stopped and played some games. He played Champions League, he played Carabao Cup and now Premier League again. We are very happy for him.”



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