Tyrone Mings: ‘Never did I think this was it or there was no way back’

T here may have been trepidation at St George’s Park on Tuesday night when Jack Grealish and the rest of England’s Manchester City contingent rolled into town, perhaps literally, but Tyrone Mings considered their arrival further cause for celebration. In his view, the more serial winners at Gareth Southgate’s disposal the better England’s chances will be of finally lifting trophies of their own.

The Aston Villa defender knows from personal experience what Grealish’s teammates have been through since City completed the treble and the £100m midfielder started on the quadruples in Istanbul. “I’ve bumped into him on holiday,” Mings says.

“I’ve never put myself in the position of where I’ve actually flown out with him but I’ve seen him abroad and many, many times in this country. It’s impressive – if that’s what you’re into.

“It is extremely wild. The only thing he needs to do is do it at the right times and he’s just won the treble so I don’t think anybody can begrudge him going out and letting his hair down – those luscious locks of his now he has taken the hairband out. He’s certainly had a good few days. The manager always talks about your club experiences adding to the group and we have a squad full of serial winners. When you look around the European competitions and domestic competitions and the amount of players that were involved in those, it can only help. And it’s important to be yourself, whatever that looks like. It adds to the game and the dressing room. Authenticity is a tough trait to come across.”

Mings had reason to party when Villa’s season ended with a 2-1 win against Brighton that sealed qualification for the Europa Conference League and the club’s stunning recovery under Unai Emery. He took a different