Tyrone Mings has admitted his 15-month international absence was justified after recognising he had stopped doing the basics that made him an England player.
The Aston Villa defender won the last of his 17 caps in a friendly against Ivory Coast in March 2022, completing the scoring in a 3-0 win. At that point, it seemed inconceivable he wouldn’t go to the World Cup but Gareth Southgate then left him out of the four Nations League games last June.
When Mings was subsequently axed from Villa’s opening-day defeat by Bournemouth last August, with then manager Steven Gerrard giving the club captaincy to John McGinn, the 30-year-old was left puzzled as to how his predicament had changed so dramatically.