Tyrone Deon Mings (born 13 March 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Aston Villa.
Mings started his career playing non-League football with Yate Town, having previously been at the Southampton academy for eight years. He joined Southern League Premier Division club Chippenham Town in 2012. Mings signed for Ipswich Town in December 2012 and made his Football League debut on the final day of the 2012–13 season. He spent a further two seasons with Ipswich, before joining Bournemouth in 2015, going on to make his Premier League debut in August 2015. He joined Aston Villa on loan for the remainder of the 2018–19 season in January 2019, helping the club win promotion to the Premier League through the Championship play-offs. Mings signed permanently for Aston Villa in July 2019.
Mings received his first call up to the senior England squad in August 2019. He made his senior debut in October 2019. In June 2021, Mings was selected for the England squad for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, starting the first two games.
Mings was born in Bath, Somerset 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. After leaving Southampton, he attended Millfield school in Somerset for two years on a football scholarship. Having graduated, Mings went on trial with both Bristol Rovers U18 and Eastleigh but was not offered a contract with either club.
Mings then signed for Southern Football League Division One South & West club Yate Town in Gloucestershire in July 2010, and he played during the 10–1 victory against Melksham Town during the 2011–12 FA Cup qualifying rounds.
He scored two goals during his time at Yate Town. His first goal was scored during the 2010–11 season, and his second and final goal for Yate Town was scored during the 3–2 victory against Thatcham Town on 11 October 2011.
He also won the 2010–11 Gloucestershire Senior Cup with Yate Town.
In the summer of 2012, he considered quitting football before eventually signing for Southern League Premier Division club Chippenham Town, representing the town he grew up in. Mings combined his non-League career with jobs as a barman and a mortgage advisor.
He made his debut for Chippenham Town on 18 September 2012 during the 1–0 victory against Bashley.
Mings signed for Ipswich Town in December 2012 after a short trial for a fee of £10,000 and an agreement for Ipswich to play a pre-season friendly game against Chippenham. On 4 May 2013, Mings made his debut for Ipswich on the last day of the 2012–13 season against Burnley. He went into the 2013–14 season as the back up left-back behind Aaron Cresswell, although he did start the opening game of the season due to Cresswell's suspension. On 4 January 2014, Mings started an FA Cup tie against Preston North End at right-back instead of his usual left-back role. He made 18 appearances during the season, making 6 starts and 12 substitute appearances.
Following Aaron Cresswell's transfer to West Ham United in July 2014, 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. On transfer deadline day in summer 2014, Mings was the subject of a £3 million bid from Crystal Palace which was rejected by Ipswich. On 20 September 2014, Mings signed a new three-year contract with Ipswich.
Mings started the 2014–15 season as the starting left-back, starting on the opening day of the season in a 2–1 win against Fulham. He continued to feature as a key part of the team throughout the season. On 10 October 2014, Mings won the Championship Player of the Month award for September. 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. Mings made 44 appearances in all competitions over the course of the season, scoring once, helping Ipswich to reach the Championship play-offs.
On 26 June 2015, Mings signed for newly promoted Premier League club Bournemouth on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee, reported to be £8 million.
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. On 3 September 2015, it was confirmed that Mings' injury would mean that he would be sidelined for between 9 and 12 months. On 13 December 2016, he made his comeback after 15 months as a late substitute in a 1–0 home win over defending champions Leicester City, the same opponent when he got injured in his debut.
On 8 March 2017, Mings was banned by the FA for five matches following an alleged stamp on Zlatan Ibrahimović in a 1–1 draw against Manchester United on the previous weekend.
On 31 January 2019, 25-year-old Mings joined Aston Villa on loan for the rest of the season. 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. Mings later apologised, insisting that it was not intentional. As referee Geoff Eltringham had seen the incident and determined that it was accidental, no retrospective action was taken.
Mings scored his first 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. 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 ten-game winning streak, in the fifth of which Mings scored the winning goal in a 2–1 win over Blackburn Rovers. On 27 May 2019, Mings played in the 2019 Championship play-off final, where he helped Villa beat Derby County 2–1, and gain promotion to the Premier League.
Mings signed for Aston Villa permanently on 8 July 2019. The fee was believed to be an initial £20million, with add-ons that could bring the total to £25million.