Patrick Agyemang

Patrick Agyemang (born 29 September 1980) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Agyemang began his career at Wimbledon, progressing through the club's youth system.

He was loaned out to Brentford in October 1999 for three months, before returning to his parent club.

Agyemang played regularly for Wimbledon, making 137 appearances and scoring 22 goals over the next four seasons.

Prior to making his Wimbledon first-team debut, Agyemang was loaned out to Brentford on a three-month loan agreement during the 1999–2000 season.

He made his Brentford debut in a 2–1 home defeat to Gillingham on 19 October 1999, coming on as a 56th-minute substitute in the match.

Agyemang made 12 appearances for the club during the three-month spell, of which three were starting appearances.

Whilst he did not score during his time at Brentford, Agyemang stated he gained a lot of confidence from his performances.

He returned to Wimbledon in January 2000.

The 2000–01 season served as Agyemang's breakthrough season at Wimbledon; he played regularly during the season, and he scored his first professional goal in a 2–2 away draw against Wycombe Wanderers on 17 February 2001.

The goal served as the catalyst for a run of five goals in nine appearances.

The following season, Agyemang scored four goals in 35 games as Wimbledon finished in ninth place in Division One.

Agyemang scored six goals in 36 games during the 2002–03 season.

He finished the 2003–04 season as Wimbledon's top goalscorer for the season despite only being there for the first half of the season, scoring seven goals in all competitions.

With Wimbledon struggling financially, he was sold to First Division club Gillingham in January 2004, spending ten months with the club before signing for Preston North End in November 2004 for a fee of £350,000.

Due to Wimbledon's financial problems, Agyemang was sold to fellow Division One club Gillingham on 2 January 2004 for a fee of £150,000.

Agyemang stated he "never wanted to leave Wimbledon", but understood the financial problems the club were facing.

Wimbledon manager Stuart Murdoch revealed he was told he could not play Agyemang in certain games towards the end of his time at the club "in case injury jeopardised the deal", with the club in need of the funds from his sale.

Agyemang debuted for Gillingham in a 2–1 away defeat to Derby County on 17 January 2004, and scored his first goal for the club two weeks later, scoring the only goal of the game as Gillingham beat Bradford City 1–0 at Priestfield.

He scored a further five goals during the latter stages of the 2003–04 season, which included the first brace of his career against Walsall on 12 April 2004, as well as the winner against his former employers, Wimbledon.

After scoring twice for Gillingham in 14 appearances in the opening months of the 2004–05 season, Agyemang attracted transfer interest from fellow Championship club Preston North End.

Preston announced they had agreed a fee with Gillingham for Agyemang on 14 November 2004, with the transfer worth in the region of £350,000.

The transfer was officially completed on 16 November 2004.

He made his Preston debut in a 1–0 away victory against Cardiff City on 19 November 2004, playing the first 73 minutes of the match.

Agyemang scored his first goal for Preston in the club's 3–0 home victory against Reading on 28 December 2004.

He scored four times in 31 appearances during his first season with the Lancashire club, ultimately finishing the season playing a peripheral role behind forwards Richard Cresswell and David Nugent.

This included three second-half substitute appearances in the Championship play-offs that season, with Preston losing out on a place in the Premier League following a 1–0 defeat to West Ham in the final.

Agyemang played regularly throughout the 2005–06 season, scoring six times in 49 matches, including playing in both of Preston's play-off games, with Preston losing by a 3–1 aggregate scoreline to Leeds United.

The six goals he scored during the season meant he was the club's second highest goalscorer for the season.

He spent four seasons at Preston, scoring 21 times in 135 appearances, before joining Queens Park Rangers in 2008.

Agyemang was part of the QPR team that earned promotion to the Premier League during the 2010–11 season.

During the 2011–12 season, he joined Championship club Millwall and made two appearances there during a one-month loan agreement.

Agyemang was loaned out for a second time in January 2012, this time joining Stevenage of League One until the end of the 2011–12 season.

The loan was made permanent in August 2012 and Agyemang scored once in 31 games during his time at Stevenage.

In February 2013, he joined League One club Portsmouth on loan for the rest of the season.

He signed for the club permanently in May 2013, and during his two-year spell there scored eight times in 69 matches, whilst also being loaned to Dagenham & Redbridge.

He retired from playing in the summer of 2015, although he briefly played for non-League Baffins Milton Rovers and Cray Valley Paper Mills.

Born in England, Agyemang qualified to play for the Ghana national team through his ancestry, earning two caps and scoring one goal.

Agyemang left school at the age of 16 and was offered academy scholarships by Wimbledon and Charlton Athletic.

He opted to sign for Wimbledon as they had a reputation for giving their academy players first-team opportunities.