Boss Mick McCarthy would be very surprised if he sees a better left-back than Town’s Tyrone Mings in the England U21 side which faces Portugal in a friendly at Turf Moor this evening.
The 21-year-old had been tipped to win his first call into Gareth Southgate’s squad after a terrific start to the season which has seen him watched regularly by a host of Premier League scouts with Arsenal believed to be weighing up whether to make a January bid.
However, Mings, the subject of a rebuffed offer in excess of £3 million from Crystal Palace in August, was omitted with Everton left-back Luke Garbutt and QPR’s Jack Robinson, who is on loan at Huddersfield, getting the nod ahead of him. Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson can also play at left-back, although is primarily in the squad as a centre-half.
"I can’t believe that any of them that are in there are better than him, but maybe it’s not a bad thing,” McCarthy said.
"I’d sooner him have a few days off. He’s just got into our team this season. He’s got a new contract, he had Crystal Palace in his ear, everything’s been going for him. He’s progressing and whoever is in that squad, good luck to them.”
But the Town boss has no doubt that the £10,000 signing from Chippenham will eventually break into Southgate’s squad, who recently qualified for next June’s European Championships in the Czech Republic.
"Let Ty have a rest because I think he’ll benefit from that and he’ll get in it,” he continued. "I don’t doubt that at all because if there are any of them any better that are in that squad then I’d be interested to see them.
"But it suits me that if he’s not, and that maybe me being selfish, but it would be good for him as well.
"You can see in the games that it’s tough for him. It’s his first full season, it’s demanding for him physically, so let him have the time off with the rest of the lads and let the U21s get on with it.”
Last season McCarthy said Aaron Cresswell, who joined West Ham in the summer, was the top left-back in the Championship. Does the Blues boss believe Mings is the best in the division this year?
"I think that has to be done over more than 17 games,” he added. "I think we’ve potentially got the best left-back in the Championship, but I couldn’t go through all the left-backs off the top of my head.
"I haven’t seen them all, but somebody’s going to have to be good to be better than him, that’s what I would say.
"I still see things he has to improve on. He’s doing great but there are things that we pull him up on. He’s still learning and I think he’s still getting that stamina to play Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday.
"But he’s getting there, he’s great. We all love him. I said that before he even got in the team.
"I’ve not changed my opinion but when we talk about all the good ones in England, they end up being the total package - getting forward, setting goals up, defending, making sure that nobody gets crosses in, covering around your own centre-half, understanding the position.
"He’s getting all that and getting better and better. I think we certainly will have the best left-back in the Championship.”
Having picked up Mings from non-league two years ago, McCarthy has recently been eyeing another left-back with a similar background, Hampton and Richmond’s George Wells.
The 18-year-old, who was with the Chelsea and QPR youth set-ups as a schoolboy, played in the recent U21 games against Swansea and QPR.
"We’ve had a look at him and he’s probably going to come in and train with us for a couple of weeks,” McCarthy said.
"I know Alan Dowse his manager, he was a player with me at Millwall. He’s done OK, he’s done all right, George, but I don’t know whether he’s better than Myles Kenlock in the U18s and we’ve got Ben Wyatt.
"To do something with them they’ve got to be better than the players we’ve got, but we’ll have a look at him for a couple of weeks and see. Like I’ve said before, take them in, have a look - nothing ventured, nothing gained.”