Aston Villa centre-back Tyrone Mings is excited to see how the new-look team continues to grow under Unai Emery

Tyrone Mings is proud of how Aston Villa have started the season following a summer of change and says that "there is a freshness around the training ground."

Villa lost more than half of the starting XI that featured against SC Freiburg in the Europa League final in May and recruited 10 new players for Unai Emery's reshaped squad.

The club made a conscious effort to reduce the wage bill and lower the average age of the squad, with Johan Manzambi, Joao Gomes, Nicolas Jackson, Zion Susuzki, Ibrahim Mbaye, Matteo Ruggeri and Alejandro Garnacho all under the age of 25.

It was a predictably slow start to the season for Villa, who lost three of their first four league matches. However, following Saturday night’s 1-0 win over Newcastle, they have lost just once in their last eight games across all competitions.

Villa also secured their first home win of the season against Fenerbahce before travelling to Tyneside, where they defeated the Turkish giants 6-0 - a club-record victory in European competition.

Speaking after the win over Newcastle at St James’ Park, Mings expressed his pride at seeing the new-look team show character to secure their second league win of the campaign.

“I'm keen to reiterate that had the players of last year stayed, maybe we would have struggled to get going after a European success. There's no formula, is there, other than hard work, embrace the new players, embrace the new regime," Mings explained.

“The manager's excited. Players that were here before are excited and keen to stop talking about new players and old players as well. We are one group now, and the more experiences we have like today, like midweek, even Brighton in a way, the more experiences that we have together, the more it feels like a group and a team and everybody understands what the manager wants.

“I'm super proud. Not only today's performance, but just the application of everybody. No matter when you joined the football club, the manager is a man that doesn't allow excuses, and everybody's really excited for what is to come.

“Of course we could have picked up a few more points, but this league is so difficult, and everything that we've done up until now, we can be super proud of. If you've seen the work on the training pitch, the application, you would understand.

“Everybody thought that it might come together at some point. We're definitely showing signs of that. But I'm super proud of everybody to come here and get a result like that is no easy task. Job well done.”

Asked about the summer window, Mings said: "I don't know if it was needed, if it wasn't, if the manager felt like it was needed, if it wasn't, if he maybe wanted to make a few changes that ended up making more. I don't know what was meant to happen.

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"All I do know is that there definitely feels like a freshness around the training ground. It feels like the group has been oxygenated. Everybody is now looking forward and excited about what we can do with this group.

"Everybody who was here before, and it's kind of acting as a bridge between old and new, has to set the standard, drive training, show what the culture has always been, what the commitment every day looks like.

"Credit to the players that have joined. They've been absolutely fantastic. The manager is keen to stress that you have to be mature, you have to be responsible. He's not going to police the dressing room.

"You need to be able to self-motivate. You need to be able to understand what the manager wants and deliver. Of course, that takes time.

"I know he spoke earlier on in the season about adaptation, but I'm just super proud of the work that we're doing day in, day out. It's a huge challenge, but it's a challenge that we've asked for. It's a challenge that we're excited by, and it's a challenge that we want."