Aston Villa and England star Tyrone Mings has spoken candidly about struggles with his mental health ahead of Euro 2020 this summer, during an exclusive interview with The Sun.
Mings was called up to the England squad following a solid campaign with Aston Villa, with Gareth Southgate opting to keep him in his squad for the Euro 2020 tournament.
The Villa centre-back did feature for the Three Lions prior to Harry Maguire’s return from injury, but with the Man United skipper having looked imperious alongside John Stones, Mings was left out in the cold.
Perhaps Mings would not have been in the right mindset to feature for England anyway, with the 28-year-old having revealed he was struggling with his mental health in the run up to the tournament.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Mings revealed:
“I did have a tough time in the lead-up to the opening game against Croatia. I think I’m a lot more hardened to outside influences now, but my mental health did plummet.”
“And I have no shame in admitting that because there was so many unknowns about me going to that game. I was probably the only name on the teamsheet that people thought, ‘Not sure about him’. And that was something I had to overcome.”
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“When 90-95 per cent of your country are having doubts over you, it’s very difficult to stop this intruding on your own thoughts.
“So I did a lot of work on that with my psychologist. I was given a lot of coping mechanisms — whether it was breathing, meditation, or just learning how to bring yourself into the present moment. To stop letting your subconscious take over.
“It was hard. I didn’t really sleep very well before that first game.
This serves as further evidence that footballers are human beings and the words which are said about them do have an effect.
Mings deserves a great deal of praise and respect for speaking publicly about his struggles with mental health. He will inspire many more men to do the same.