Aston Villa captain Tyrone Mings is 'at risk' of losing his place in the team, transfer insider Dean Jones has told GiveMeSport.

The lowdown

Mings, a Villa mainstay, has started 29 of their 31 Premier League matches so far this season, with only injury or suspension keeping him out of the line-up.

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Villa paid just over £20million to sign him from Bournemouth in the summer of 2019, and he signed a contract extension in September 2020. His £80,000-per-week deal runs until the end of the 2023/24 season.

Mings has faced criticism in recent times, with journalist Zach Lowy insisting in February that he was 'far too error-prone to be a starter, let alone captain' and urging Villa 'to move on from him and upgrade with a new CB this summer'.

Steven Gerrard has said he will pick his 'long-term' skipper in the summer and admitted that he could recruit someone from elsewhere to don the armband.

The latest

Jones, speaking to GMS, says Gerrard will be considering Mings' 'position in the side' in light of a succession of errors in recent seasons.

He explained:

"I think his position in the side has to be at risk at this stage," he said. "He has also made quite a few errors over the past couple of years."

The verdict

Since Villa were promoted to the Premier League, Mings has made five errors directly leading to an opposition shot and four leading to a goal and given away two penalty kicks (via SofaScore).

And those figures don't account for more subjective errors.

It seems that Gerrard is determined to strengthen at the heart of his defence, with Football Insider claiming he plans to approach his old club Liverpool over a deal for Joe Gomez.

Gomez, valued at £19.8million by Transfermarkt, is described as his no. 1 target.

His public comments about the captaincy might have been a veiled challenge to Mings, who could be fighting for his spot in these final weeks of the campaign. If he can respond, then perhaps it will be enough to avoid the axe.

In other news, Villa could make this move after Sean Dyche's sacking.