Gabriel Agbonlahor

Gabriel Imuetinyan Agbonlahor (born 13 October 1986) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward; he mostly played as a striker, but he was also capable of playing on the wing.

He spent his entire professional career with Aston Villa in the Premier League and later the Championship, with loans at Watford and Sheffield Wednesday at the start of his career.

Agbonlahor headed the winning goal in the 86th minute of the Second City derby away to Birmingham on 11 November, shortly after saving the ball on the line from a Liam Ridgewell shot.

Agbonlahor won the Premier League Player of the Month award for November and manager Martin O'Neill won the equivalent award for the same month.

He signed a two-year professional contract at the club in June 2005.

On 22 September 2005, he was loaned to Championship club Watford, where he made his senior debut six days later, replacing Trevor Benjamin at half time in a 3–1 defeat away to Coventry City.

He made his first start in his only other match for Watford, a goalless draw against Leeds United at Vicarage Road on 1 October, in which he made way for Francino Francis after 65 minutes.

Agbonlahor was loaned to another team from the division on 28 October, Sheffield Wednesday, where he made eight appearances without scoring.

He is a product of Aston Villa's Academy, and made his first-team debut in 2006 following loans to Football League clubs Watford and Sheffield Wednesday.

He made 391 total appearances for Aston Villa, including 322 in the Premier League.

He scored 87 goals for the club, and is their all-time leading Premier League goalscorer, with 74 across 11 consecutive league seasons.

Agbonlahor's Premier League debut for Villa came on 18 March 2006 at the age of 19, under manager David O'Leary, against Everton at Goodison Park.

O'Leary was forced to delve into the youth academy because of a lack of senior strikers due to injury, thus earning Agbonlahor a rare start.

He scored after 63 minutes, although Villa went on to lose the match 4–1.

In five pre-season matches of the 2006–07 season, Agbonlahor netted three goals for Aston Villa; a quick double salvo against Walsall (the first a near-post header, the latter a close range finish) in a 5–0 victory, and a consolation strike in a 2–1 defeat at NEC.

Agbonlahor started the season on the right wing in Martin O'Neill's new-look Villa team, and would be part of the team that managed to get a point from the first Premier League match at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium.

Agbonlahor's first goal of the season came at home against Charlton Athletic in a 2–0 win.

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.

Agbonlahor also provided cup heroics in 2006, scoring an injury-time winner to beat Leicester City 3–2 at the Walkers Stadium.

The following match, he scored a consolation effort in Villa's first loss of the season, on 28 October, ten matches in.

Agbonlahor completed his run of scoring against the so-called "Big Four", when he scored against Manchester United.

Aston Villa were beaten 3–1 in the match at Old Trafford.

Agbonlahor then scored deep into injury time in the following match, against Watford on 20 January 2007, to end a Villa winless run that stretched back to 11 November.

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.

Following this match, Agbonlahor signed a new-four-year contract at Villa.

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.

Agbonlahor also scored the vital second goal in the match between Aston Villa and Chelsea on 2 September, in which Villa won 2–0.

Formerly a regular with the England under-21s, Agbonlahor made his senior international debut for England in 2008 and earned three caps.

Before being scouted by Aston Villa, Agbonlahor was playing for Great Barr Falcons and his district.

It was at a district game where he was scouted by Aston Villa.

During this time he had also been scouted by Wolverhampton Wanderers and played a few games for them, but chose to join his boyhood football team Aston Villa.

Agbonlahor came through the youth ranks at local club Aston Villa.

On 12 April 2008, Agbonlahor scored the fourth goal against Derby County in a 6–0 victory at Pride Park Stadium in the Premier League.

In the Second City derby against Birmingham City on 20 April 2008, he scored the fifth and final goal in the 5–1 victory.

On 15 August 2008, Agbonlahor signed a new four-year contract with Villa, tying him to the club until 2012.