Is Tyrone Mings potentially the best defender on AFCB's books?

Tyrone has time on his side.

The enforced suspension of Tyrone Mings got me thinking about what we have seen this season of the defender and how good he just might become. In the early games he had that started with the FA Cup defeat to Millwall, he seemed a long way short of where he would need to be to really have an impact on the position of central defender in this team, but in just a few games we saw him not only get his tackles in and position himself better, he really started to command the defence and not too unlike Nathan Aké had done earlier in the season.

It may be premature to see Tyrone as the best defender at the club, but from what I have seen I would not be surprised if he does achieve that in the coming seasons. He was absolutely superb at Old Trafford and showed that he could handle a world-class attacker in Ibahimovic, and, leaving out the infamous foot on head incident, I liked the way that AFCB had a player that was prepared to battle to stop such a player have it all his own way.

You also notice with Tyrone that he talks to players when he is on the pitch. He is going to become a leader and will speak up if things are not being carried out to plan. While he has the highest price-tag of all the defenders at the club, he has not just slipped into the first 11. It has taken him some time having had a bad injury last season and a change of position. Eddie Howe clearly sees him as a versatile player when he was bought, but Tyrone now seems to like playing in central defence and it could be quite a battle come the last few matches as to who starts there and going into next season.

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The other feature that I have enjoyed about Tyrone's game is his calmness when in possession. He really does not get overly stressed when being pressed and seems to enjoy the responsibility. I'd like to see the Cherries also explore the option of playing three at the back a bit more often, as I see Mings, Cook and Francis very able at playing that system. Eddie will have to decide who to leave out at times when he just plays two central defenders, but why not play all three in some games? Eddie also still has the option of Baily Cargill to come in and in future years, Baily and Tyrone could be the pick of AFCB's defenders as potentially they are the two that have the years ahead of them to progress the most.