FIT-again Tyrone Mings admitted his Philadelphia stint had proved a turning point after making a long-awaited return to training.

The Cherries full-back tore anterior and medial ligaments six minutes into his debut against Leicester in August and has undergone intense rehabilitation since then.

Mings performed most of his rehab at a clinic in London but this summer jetted to Philadelphia to seek the opinion of a specialist and continue working.

The move paid off as the 23-year-old, who joined Cherries in a then club-record £8million deal from Ipswich last summer, returned to training last week.

Mings said: "I'm not as fit as the other guys but to be in the team environment of training and joining in some sessions is a massive step mentally to becoming fully fit.

"I said previously that if I came back in pre-season then the training would be very modified. I didn't know what I would be able to join in with and was just hoping to join in with the running.

"Philadelphia was a turning point and I was able to do a lot more than I initially thought so when I came back I was in a lot better shape than the club were anticipating.

"Things moved quite quickly. They realised I was able to do a lot of things and they did different drills to test my knee, and now they are slowly feeding me back into training.

"Hopefully, the return to training and playing will be a lot more straightforward than the past 10 and a half months."

Mings was speaking to the club website.