STRONG-minded defender Tyrone Mings refuses to rely on his team-mates to get him through his latest injury setback and insists he must motivate from within.

The 24-year-old has been plagued by injury since making an £8million move to Cherries from Ipswich Town nearly two-and-a-half years ago.

Converted to a centre-half by boss Eddie Howe, Mings has just 14 Cherries appearances under his belt, due largely to tearing anterior and medial ligaments minutes into his Premier League debut against Leicester.

The former Chippenham Town man is currently recovering from a back problem which has sidelined him since the beginning of September. And he admitted last week that he could be another two months away from full fitness.

With such struggles as these on his plate, Mings insists it is up to him to deal with setbacks rather than look to others to help him out as "everyone has their own problems".

He told the Daily Echo: "I think it has to come from within. Going through your career, you aren't always going to get positive team-mates and a positive manager.

"If you can remain positive and find things which are within your control to motivate you, that's a healthier and more stable way to be rather than relying on external factors.

"You have to understand that managers have different pressures and the manager's last worry when I'm injured is how I'm feeling because he's got his own stuff to worry about.

"It's the same with my other 30 team-mates. Everyone has something to worry about and everyone has their own problems.

"In football, you have to self-motivate and get yourself through it, there's no other option."

Mings sustained his serious knee injury a matter of weeks after joining Cherries, the towering defender spending more than a year on the sidelines as a result.

"When I signed and got injured straight away, there was a huge emphasis on supporting me because it was such a horrendous injury and terrible timing," said Mings.

"The manager came over to my house to make sure I was all right and team-mates did the same thing. When he was here, Tommy Elphick was great.

"But even stuff like that doesn't last forever because the players have to then focus on keeping us in the league.

"It has been terrible luck but in amongst it, I've had great times as well."

Away from his Cherries commitments, Mings is a director of the Bournemouth-based KTM Design, an interior design company. He also recently launched the Tyrone Mings Academy, which runs regular sessions in the Bristol and Bath areas.

Mings added: "Those things are really great. I'm really enjoying doing the academy and KTM is going from strength to strength, so if I'm injured or something goes wrong in my football career, there are other things I can remain positive about."