Tyrone Mings took a significant step on his road to recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury by starting a game for Aston Villa’s U21 side on Saturday.
The 31-year-old former Villa captain had been out of action since he sustained the injury in his right knee on August 12 last year in a 5-1 loss away at Newcastle.
He therefore missed all but one of Villa’s games in the 2023-24 season but he could soon be back available to manager Unai Emery.
Mings was not the only overage player to start in Villa’s U21 clash with Newcastle on Saturday.
Midfielder Boubacar Kamara, 24, also returned from a lengthy absence caused by an ACL injury.
Tyrone Mings started for Aston Villa against Newcastle United in a U21 match on Saturday
This was the first game that 31-year-old defender Mings had started in more than 12 months
Kamara sustained his injury in February during a 2-1 home defeat by Manchester United.
Both Mings and Kamara were taken off at half-time on Saturday in what were pre-planned substitutions.
Villa posted pictures of the pair in action on social media alongside the message: ‘An important 45 minutes in the tank for @TyroneMings & @boubaKamara_4’.
The score was 1-1 when Mings and Kamara made their exits. Ben Parkinson opened the scoring for Newcastle before Ben Broggio equalised for Villa.
But Villa went on to lose 3-2.Â
Mings had been out of action since August 2023 with an anterior cruciate ligament injury
Travis Patterson put Villa 2-1 up early in the second half.
However, Cathal Heffernan headed the Magpies level and a penalty converted by Parkinson later completed the turnaround.