Aston Villa's Tyrone Mings 'better & wiser' on England return after 'coasting' before international axe

Mings is hoping to win his first cap for 15 months when the Three Lions face Malta on Friday having forced his way back into the reckoning following the best season of his career.

The 30-year-old was a regular in Gareth Southgate’s squads before being left out a year ago and now admits that omission, which followed with him being stripped of the Villa captaincy and dropped for the opening day of the campaign by Steven Gerrard, was the “kick up the backside” he required to get his career back on track.

Mings told the Guardian: "I guess it started being left out of the England squad but that was a whole summer of strange times really.

"Then sitting on the bench at Bournemouth and thinking: 'I don't know how all of this has happened in such a short space of time'.

“I genuinely believe every experience happens for a reason and even sitting there last summer thinking that I had fallen a long way from where I was, never did I think this was it or there was no way back.

“I’ve certainly learned from it. Did I need it? Probably. I think there is always a plateau in people’s careers where things are coasting. I had been in every England squad for two and a half years and these things are sent to test you. The most important thing is how you react to them and that is what I take away from what I’ve gone through.

“It wasn’t taking things for granted but you just sometimes need a kick up the backside, don’t you? And that can come in many different ways. Sometimes you ask for it, sometimes it gets delivered to you.

“It was just a situation where if I look back now and think: ‘Was I really pushing myself everyday to the level where I am right now?’ Honestly, probably not. That was the result of many different things but I certainly wouldn’t change the last 14 months since the last game of last season to where we are now. Because we went through a poor period, I went through a poor period, and now I can sit here and think it’s taught me some very valuable lessons.”

Mings, who last month admitted his England recall has been a surprise, improved further following the arrival of Unai Emery as Villa’s head coach and signed a new contract at the club in February.

He added: "From the captaincy to not starting first game of the season but then I look at the scenes at Villa Park on the last day of the season and to see how far the club have come and how far I'd come over the course of the season was impressive.

"I find I learn way more in times of uncertainty or disappointment compared to when it is going well and there isn't much to think about because things are easy.”