AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe has insisted that defender Tyrone Mings’ perhaps unexpected return to the first team against Swansea City had been well earned.
Mings once held AFC Bournemouth’s transfer record, when he joined from Ipswich Town in June 2015 for a reported fee of around £8million. Which also included a season-long-loan for Ryan Fraser and Brett Pitman also making the trip to Ipswich.
He, however, has been plagued by injuries, just six minutes into his debut in August 2015, he suffered a serious knee injury which left him sidelined for over a year.
This season a stress fracture to his spine has seen him sit out 8 months of the season.
He has totalled just 655 minutes of Premier League football in three seasons.
Some stats from billythekid…
Very unlucky with injuries since he joined us.
2015-16 – 2 appearances for us (1 cup game).
2016-17- 9 appearances (2 cup).
2017-18 – 4 appearances (1 cup).
2014-15 before he joined us from Ipswich – 44 appearances (2 cup).
Howe told the Daily Echo…
“I didn’t do it on sympathy or to make him feel good. I did it because I felt that was the best thing at that stage of the game – to get his height and presence on the pitch.
“I also did it because of the way he has trained for the past two weeks. I’ve been really impressed with him. He has come back from a serious injury and has looked really good so I was delighted to get him on the pitch.
“We value and rate him very highly and I’m really pleased for him.
“We have had a long wait through no fault of his own, just through sheer bad luck. I’d love for Tyrone to be injury free next year.”
Your say…
kirsikka wrote…
One of those players who we all hope really has something if he could just have an injury free run. It’s been a pretty horrific run since he joined us so let’s hope next season is the one for him. – Join the conversation, click here.
AFCB Vital sponsors of Cherry Bear and Supporters Travel
