Villa Blogsville

The shape of ‘Mings’ to come?

|

To my mind, the most important piece of business Aston Villa conduct this summer is our attempt to sign Tyrone Mings on a permanent basis from Bournemouth.

Since his arrival in January, he’s arguably been our most important player. For all the goals of Tammy Abraham, the industry of ‘Super’ John McGinn and the artistry and talismanic qualities of Jack Grealish, for me it’s been Mings’ steely resolve and determination (and the calmness and organisation he brings to our defence) which really saw us home.

The perceived lack of progress in bringing Tyrone to B6 full-time has alarmed many among the Villa faithful, desperate to secure the services of this vital player with the new-found Premier League riches apparently burning a hole in our pockets.

In the forums, for instance, northamptonvillan asked:

“Am I the only one who thinks this may not happen or at least that the game of call my bluff may go on until the window closes? If they don’t choose to keep him, Bournemouth will clearly want a bidding war.”

While it’s known that we have a clause in his loan arrangement that we will have the opportunity to match any offer made for him this summer, there needs to be an offer for us to match. Or failing that, we need to make a concrete offer to test Bournemouth’s resolve.

The player wants to come to Villa, Bournemouth are prepared to sell and it’s inevitable the deal will get done. The water has been muddied somewhat by his remarkable performances over the final months of the season, meaning Bournemouth will want to wait until the last possible moment to extract the best price before agreeing to sell.

Bournemouth will likely want a bidding war in order to drive up the price, but the longer it goes on without competing bids, obviously the better it is for Villa: unhappy player + increasingly desperate selling club = big win for Villa in terms of the final transfer fee.

With Tyrone having spent the past few months with us on loan, I think it really doesn’t matter all that much WHEN he signs – bedding in will not be a problem with him having been an integral part of the promotion effort.

I think it’s fair to say that the club needs to be trusted on this one. Our transfer dealings to date under NSWE, Jesus Pitarch and Christian Purslow (and, of course, Dean Smith) have worked out very successfully and I for one have total faith in what they are looking to achieve this summer.

With the transfer window “slamming shut” (©Jim White, Sky Sports) earlier than usual this coming season, there is clearly a time element. But in terms of Bournemouth looking for a replacement, they’ve already spent big money on Brentford’s Chris Mepham and Lloyd Kelly from Bristol City, so they might well be happy wait until the very last moment.

‘Mings to Villa’ is surely only a matter of time.


Previous article by JPA – Grealish IS going to Spurs after all!

Share this article