The expectations of Aston Villa fans may not have been overly high when their club signed Tyrone Mings for a rather sizeable £20m back in the summer of 2019, however, the centre-back has gone on to prove he was well worth Johan Lange's considerable gamble.

Indeed, having highly impressed over his 15 Championship appearances while on loan at Villa back in 2018/19, helping his side keep six clean sheets, it certainly appeared as if signing the defender was a smart move by the club, albeit with an inflated transfer fee - with the 28-year-old's Transfermarkt valuation at the time of his switch to Villa Park being just £4.5m.

However, Mings has gone from strength to strength since joining Villa on a permanent basis, demonstrating he was well worth the fee the Premier League side paid AFC Bournemouth for his services.

Indeed, over his 33 Premier League appearances for the club in their 2019/20 campaign, the £67k-per-week defender played a key role in helping his side avoid relegation, helping his team keep six clean sheets, scoring two goals and registering two assists, in addition to making an average of 0.9 interceptions, 0.5 tackles, 5.7 clearances and winning 3.2 duels per match.

These returns saw the defender average a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.88, ranking him as Dean Smith's joint fourth-best performer in the top flight of English football.

However, it was over the centre-back's 36 Premier League fixtures last season in which he truly came into his own, scoring two goals, providing two assists and helping his side keep a whopping 14 clean sheets, as well as making an average of 1.1 interceptions, 0.9 tackles, 4.7 clearances and winning 4.1 duels per league game.

These metrics saw Mings earn a highly impressive average SofaScore match rating of 6.95, ranking him as Villa's joint ninth-best player in the top flight, and earning the defender a call up to Gareth Southgate's Euro 2020 squad.

As such, considering these impressive displays, as well as the fact the England international is now valued at £27m by Transfermarkt, it would indeed appear as if Lange struck gold when signing Mings back in 2019.

In other news: Insider drops claim on "outstanding" £50k-p/w beast, it'll be music to AVFC fans' ears