Gabriel Agbonlahor

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Gabriel Agbonlahor

Personal information
Full name	Gabriel Imuetinyan Agbonlahor
Date of birth	13 October 1986 (1986-10-13) (age 22)
Place of birth	Erdington, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Forward Winger
Club information
Current club	Aston Villa
Number	11
Youth career
	Great Barr Falcons
1994–2005	Aston Villa
Senior career1
Years	Club	Apps (Gls)2
2005–	Aston Villa	120 (32)
2005	→ Watford (loan)	002 0(0)
2005	→ Sheffield Wednesday (loan)	008 0(0)
National team3
2006–2009	England U21	016 0(5)
2008–	England	002 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:11, 25 May 2009 (UTC). 2 Appearances (Goals) 3 National team caps and goals correct as of 21:23, 29 June 2009 (UTC).

Gabriel "Gabby" Imuetinyan Agbonlahor (born 13 October 1986 in Erdington,^[1] Birmingham) is an English footballer who plays for Aston Villa of the Premier League. He is of Nigerian^[2] and Scottish^[3] descent. Agbonlahor is a product of Aston Villa's Academy system.^[4]

Contents 1 Early career 2 Aston Villa 2.1 2005–06 season 2.2 2006–07 season 2.3 2007–08 season 2.4 2008–09 season 3 International career 4 Career statistics 5 Honours 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early career

Agbonlahor was first noticed playing for local side Great Barr Falcons where he was nicknamed Gabby for the first time^[5], where his quick pace brought him success as a young teenager. He was spotted by the club he supported as a child, Aston Villa.

In the 2002–03 season, playing his first season for the Aston Villa Academy, Agbonlahor notched an impressive nine goals in 18 appearances. He followed this up with a tally of 35 goals in 20 games in the 2003–04 season^[6], a feat which was comparable to Darius Vassell's 38 goals in the 1997–98 season. With Agbonlahor showing promise for the Youth team, he made more of an impact for the Reserves in the 2004–05 season, although he still bagged 18 goals in 22 games to bring his youth record to 71 appearances and 62 goals.

He made a good impression for Aston Villa's Youth team in 2005 at the Under-20 International Football Challenge in Adelaide, Australia. Agbonlahor netted in the opening match, a 2–0 victory over AIS, before scoring in the 2–2 draw against Milan — which Aston Villa won on penalties — and once in the 4–1 demolition of Tokyo Verdy. He subsequently scored two goals in the final against Team S.A, in a match that was won 5–0.

Agbonlahor made 87 appearances for the reserves between 2003 and 2006, scoring 19 times, most notably a hat-trick against American goalkeeper Tim Howard in a 3–0 defeat of Manchester United Reserves. He also captained an Aston Villa team in the 2006 HKFC Philips Lighting International Soccer Sevens, he was named "Player of the Tournament" as Aston Villa finished runners-up to Urawa Red Diamonds.

In September 2005, Watford announced the loan signing of Agbonlahor for a short period.^[7] Here, Agbonlahor would team up with Ashley Young, a player who would later join him at Villa and form a prolific attacking partnership.^[8] The young striker from Erdington made just two league appearances at Watford with no goals and later returned to Aston Villa.

His second taste of first-team action came in October 2005 when he went on loan to Sheffield Wednesday for two months, being signed by Paul Sturrock to cover for his striker injuries.^[9] Here, Agbonlahor made eight appearances in the league before heading back to Villa Park.

[edit] Aston Villa

[edit] 2005–06 season

Agbonlahor was given his Premiership début on 18 March, 2006, under former Villa manager David O'Leary, against Everton at Goodison Park. He scored on his début after 63 minutes, although Villa went on to lose the match 4–1.^[10]

[edit] 2006–07 season

In five pre-season games of the 2006–07 season, Agbonlahor netted four goals in five games for Aston Villa. After netting a quick double salvo against Walsall (the first a near-post header, the latter a close range finish) in a 5–0 victory.^[11] Agbonlahor also netted in the second match of Aston Villa's tour against NEC, which turned out to be a consolation goal, in a 2–1 victory for NEC.^[12]

Agbonlahor started the season on the right wing in Martin O'Neill's new-look Villa side, and would be part of the team that managed a get a point from the first Premiership game at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium.^[13] Agbonlahor's first goal of the season came at home against Charlton Athletic, in a 2–0 win.^[14] On 30 September, Agbonlahor scored a crucial equaliser against Premiership champions Chelsea just before half-time, heading in Liam Ridgewell's cross with a glancing header to earn Villa a 1–1 draw.^[15]

Agbonlahor also provided cup heroics in 2006, scoring an extra-time injury-time winner to beat Leicester City 3–2 at the Walkers Stadium.^[16] The following game, he scored a consolation effort in Villa's first loss of the season, on 28 October, ten games in.^[17]

Agbonlahor completed his run of scoring against the Big Four, when he added Manchester United to a list of his victims that included Chelsea and Liverpool. Aston Villa were beaten 3–1 in the game at Old Trafford.^[18] Agbonlahor then scored deep into injury time in the following game, against Watford on 20 January, to end a Villa winless run that stretched back to 11 November.^[19]

Agbonlahor had played every minute of Aston Villa's campaign in 2006–07, until he was replaced by Patrik Berger, in the 2–0 away fixture against Reading, on 10 February 2007. The following match was the first of the season that Agbonlahor did not start — he instead appeared from the bench, replacing new Villa signing Shaun Maloney. Manager Martin O'Neill suggested that Agbonlahor, who had been playing out of position on the right wing for much of the season, had done superbly, and being dropped from the first 11 was in order to rest him, and alleviate growing crowd pressure.

Following this break, Agbonlahor went on a scoring spree. He scored from the right-wing against Everton on 2 April, to gain Villa a valuable point.^[20] Following this match, Agbonlahor signed a new-four year contract at Aston Villa.^[21] The following Saturday, in the absence of John Carew, he was moved back to his natural position at centre forward and again found his name on the scoresheet.

Agbonlahor made it three in a row on Easter Monday, again scoring an equaliser, adjudged to have crossed the line by assistant referee Dave Richardson.

[edit] 2007–08 season

Agbonlahor also scored the vital second goal in the match between Aston Villa and Chelsea on 2 September, in which Villa won 2–0.^[22][23] Agbonlahor scored the winning goal in the 86th minute of the Birmingham Derby, 60 seconds after saving the ball on the line from a Liam Ridgewell shot. After 13 games, Agbonlahor was the clubs top goal scorer, with six Premier League goals. On 7 December it was announced that Agbonlahor had won the Barclays Premier League Player of the month award and Manager Martin O'Neill had won the Manager of the month award for the same month.^[24]

On 12 April 2008, Agbonlahor scored the fourth goal against Derby County in a 6–0 victory at Pride Park in the Premier league.^[25] In the Birmingham derby on 20 April 2008, he scored the fifth and final goal in the 5–1 victory.^[26]

[edit] 2008–09 season

On 15 August 2008, Aston Villa announced that Agbonlahor had signed a new four-year deal, tying him to the club until 2012.^[27]

Following his contract extension, on 17 August 2008, Agbonlahor scored a "perfect" hat-trick (scoring goals with his head, right foot and left foot) against Manchester City in Villa's opening game of the 2008-09 season at Villa Park. The three goals were netted in the space of seven minutes, making it the second-fastest hat-trick in the history of the Premier League. He was later named man of the match for this performance, which led to a 4–2 victory.^[28]

Early in the season he began to form a successful strike partnership with team-mate John Carew, this demonstrated in the Premier League away games against West Bromwich Albion^[29] and Wigan Athletic^[30] where both players scored in both games and provided assists. On 3 November, Agbonlahor was at the centre of a controversy with Newcastle United's Joey Barton when, during the match, Barton appeared to brush his fingers on Agbonlahor's face. It later emerged that Barton's attack might have been race-orientated but, after careful consideration by both Aston Villa and the FA, no further action was taken.^[31][32] On 8 November, it emerged in some national newspapers that the reason Agbonlahor decided not to pursue legal action against Barton was because he "felt sorry" for him.^[33][34] On 15 November, he scored once and played a part in the other goal, when Aston Villa beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium.^[35] He scored a brace against Bolton Wanderers on 13 December.^[36] Agbonlahor notched his tenth league goal of the season in the 90th minute in a 2-0 win against Blackburn Rovers on 7 February^[37].

However, this was a high point in a dismal run of form in which he scored just 1 goal in 12 league games. Some fans began to get frustrated with Agbonlahor and in Villa's home defeat against Spurs there were some sarcastic cheers as he was substituted off by Martin O'Neill. He subsequently was dropped to the bench for Villa's next game away to Liverpool which Villa lost 5-0. After the heavy defeat to Liverpool and despite his lack of form Agbonlahor was recalled to the starting 11 and went on to net a 58th minute goal against Manchester United on April 5th in their 3-2 defeat.

Gabriel Agbonlahor was nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year with fellow team mate Ashley Young winning the honour.

[edit] International career

On 20 September 2006, Agbonlahor was pencilled in as a player in the Nigeria U20 team for the match against Rwanda. He turned down the chance, whilst not ruling out playing for the country in the future.^[38] He later pledged his future to England.^[39][40]

On 28 September 2006, Agbonlahor received his first call-up to the England U21 squad, and won his first U21 cap as a substitute against Germany U21 on 6 October.

Agbonlahor was then omitted from the England's U21 Championship squad, by manager Stuart Pearce, on 30 May 2007, as a result of missing the England U21 training camp in Spain. David Bentley, also included in the England first team lineup, took his place.

Agbonlahor was later recalled to the side by Pearce, in September 2007,^[41] netting his first goal for the under-21s, by scoring the second in a 3–0 victory, over Montenegro U21.

On 1 February, Agbonlahor was named in Fabio Capello's 23-man England squad to play Switzerland in February 2008^[42], although a hamstring injury forced him to withdraw from the game.^[43]

Agbonlahor was also an unused substitute in England's respective 2–0 and 3–0 friendly victories against the United States^[44] and Trinidad & Tobago^[45] in May–June 2008.

On 15 November 2008, he was called up to Fabio Capello's squad for the upcoming match against Germany in Berlin, joining three other Aston Villa players in the squad; Ashley Young, Curtis Davies and Gareth Barry. On 19 November, he was named to start against Germany. He played for 76 minutes, had a goal disallowed^[46] and received high praise from John Terry. Terry declared Agbonlahor in his post-match interview "a nightmare to play against".^[47]

On 11 February 2009 he was in the starting line up against Spain, he played for 75 minutes before being subsituted for debutant Carlton Cole.

On 31 March 2009 he was called into the England squad to face Ukraine in a World cup qualifier after Darren Bent limped out of training with an injury. Bent was the third England striker to drop out of the squad through injury, after Emile Heskey and Carlton Cole.^[48]

[edit] Career statistics

All-time club performance

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		International		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Aston Villa[49]	2008–09	34	12	2	0	1	0	9	1	2	0	48	13
	2007–08	37	11	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	40	11
	2006–07	38	9	1	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	42	10
	2005–06	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	1
Aston Villa Total		117	33	4	0	6	1	9	1	2	0	138	35
Sheffield Weds (loan)	2005–06	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
Sheffield Weds Total		8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
Watford (loan)	2005–06	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Watford Total		2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Career total		127	33	4	0	6	1	9	1	2	0	148	35
Last updated 8 May 2009

[edit] Honours

Aston Villa

FA Cup

• Runners Up (2003–04)

HKFC Philips Lighting International Football Sevens

• Runners Up (2006)
• Player Of The Tournament (2007)

International Football Challenge

• Winners (2004)
• Player Of The Series (2008)

Young Player of the Season

• Winner (2004–05)
• Winner (2008–09)

Player's Young Player of the Season

• Winner (2007–08)
• Winner (2008–09)

Top Goalscorer

• Winner (2006–07)

Most Fertile Man In Briton

• Winner 2008-2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gabriel Agbonlahor career stats at Soccerbase
• Gabriel Agbonlahor at BBC Sport Online

v • d • e Aston Villa F.C. – current squad 1 Friedel · 2 L. Young · 3 Bouma · 4 Sidwell · 7 A. Young · 8 Milner · 9 Harewood · 10 Carew · 11 Agbonlahor · 14 Delfouneso · 15 Davies · 16 Knight · 17 Salifou · 18 Heskey · 19 Petrov · 20 Reo-Coker · 21 Shorey · 22 Guzan · 24 Cuéllar · 26 Gardner · 27 Osbourne · 29 O'Halloran · 43 Lichaj · 45 Albrighton · 46 Bannan · 47 Clark · 48 Baker · 49 Herd · 51 Lowry · Manager: O'Neill

Persondata
NAME	Agbonlahor, Gabriel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Agbonlahor, Gabriel
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH	1986-10-13
PLACE OF BIRTH	Erdington, Birmingham, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH