Mings was handed the armband at Villa Park last term following the departure of Jack Grealish to Manchester City.

 

But Gerrard decide to strip the centre-back of the captaincy heading into this season, replacing him with midfielder John McGinn.

 

 

Mings remained as an unused substitute in Aston Villa’s 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth in their Premier League opener at the weekend.

 

The England international being stripped of his duties as captain and his subsequent demotion to the bench has resulted in some speculating that he has had falling-out with his boss Gerrard.

 

 

However, Gerrard and Mings have not had a bust-up and as such that is not a reason for the player losing his first team spot at Villa Park.

 

The former Rangers boss wants Mings to focus more on improving his individual game and saw taking away the armband from him as one way to help him do that.

 

 

Gerrard has made it clear that when Mings is back to playing at his best, he will be handed game time while in the meantime, Ezri Konsa and Diego Carlos are his preferred centre-back paring.