Former Liverpool and Rangers midfielder issues warning to Steven Gerrard following captaincy change

Former Liverpool and Rangers midfielder Graeme Souness has issued a warning to Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard, urging him to be careful with how he handles the Tyrone Mings situation.

Gerrard last week confirmed that Mings had been stripped of the captaincy in favour of John McGinn, a decision that is said to have hurt Mings.

The Villa manager also left the centre-back out of the opening Premier League game of the season against his former club, Bournemouth, in favour of Ezri Konsa and new signing Diego Carlos - a decision that didn’t pay off as the claret and blue found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline.

And Souness has now urged Gerrard to be careful with how he moves forward with the situation.

“Theres something about him [Tyrone Mings] that the manager doesn’t fancy and that’s the manager’s prerogative,” the Scot told talkSPORT.

“What you have to say is, it’s alright leaving players out but you have to win games in doing so.”

“Let me tell you how a dressing room works. You’re a player, I’m after you, I’m digging you out. There’s 25 players in that dressing room listening to it.

“You sit there, you look at me but you don’t say a word. When I walk out of that dressing room, you say to your best mate ‘I’m not having that off him.’ Then he tells his best mate, it’s a chain reaction.

“By the time hey’ve had their shower and they are in their new Bentley in the car park and they are driving out, they’ve spoke to their agent.

“Me as a manager, I’m on sticky ground. I’ve fallen out with half a dozen of you that collectively might be worth £150million.

“Then an agent leaks a story that he’s fallen out with a dressing room, that’s leaked to the press. Chairman, chief exec reads that and you’re then on a sticky wicket.”