Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings would love to emulate Virgil van Dijk.

The centre-back won first call-up to the England squad this week, and he has named Liverpool star van Dijk as an inspiration.

"Him (Van Dijk) for sure. I think he is perhaps one of the most complete centre-backs in world football right now. I try to watch as many clips of different centre-backs as possible and take different inspirations from different place and different people," Mings told journalists during a press conference.

"He is definitely one person I would love to emulate on the pitch. To be mentioned in the same sentence or breath as him is an extremely positive thing.

"I wouldn't make those comparisons just yet. I've got a long way to go for that, but it's nice. The Villa fans are brilliant so those comparisons are fine with me."