Gabriel Agbonlahor

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Gabby Agbonlahor
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Personal information
Date of birth	October 13, 1986
Place of birth	Erdington, Birmingham, England
Height	1,80 meters
Nickname	Roadrunner
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Aston Villa
Number	15
Youth clubs
1994 - 2006	Aston Villa
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
2006- 2005 2005	Aston Villa → Watford (loan) → Sheffield Wednesday (loan)	21 (4) 2 (0) 8 (0)
National team**
2006-	England U21	1 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:46, 18 November 2006 (UTC). ** National team caps and goals correct as of 2006-10-07.

Gabriel "Gabby" Agbonlahor (born October 13, 1986 in Birmingham) is an English striker of half Nigerian descent. Agbonlahor currently plays for English football club Aston Villa and is a product of the club's youth system who also played in the losing FA Youth Cup team of 2004.

Agbonlahor is widely regarded as a player of some potential and has built on this with loan spells at Watford and Sheffield Wednesday, although he failed to score a goal at either club and at first glance appeared to have no quailites except pace.

He made a good impression for Aston Villa's youth squad in 2005 at an U-20 tournament in Adelaide, Australia called the International Soccer Challenge. Working up front with another promising young forward Shane Paul he scored several goals as Villa won the tournament. Agbonlahor was made his Premiership debut soon after that, while Paul has since left Villa for Scunthorpe United.

He scored on his Premiership debut for Aston Villa against Everton at Goodison Park on 18 March 2006.

Agbonlahor has been averaging a goal a game for the second string, with a goalscoring record of 11 (2) appearances and 13 goals for Aston Villa Reserves during the 2005-06 season. On September 30, 2006 Agbonlahor scored a crucial equaliser against Chelsea for Villa just before half-time, nodding in Liam Ridgewell's astute glancing header to earn Villa a hard-earned 1-1 draw.

Playing for Aston Villa youths in the 2006 HKFC Philips Lighting International Soccer Sevens, he was named "Player of the Tournament" as Villa finished Runners-Up to Urawa Red Diamonds.

He came on as a substitute in the 3-1 win over Birmingham City on 16 April 2006, in a game that effectively ended the Blues' hopes of avoiding relegation.

Agbonlahor has netted 4 goals in 5 pre-season games for Aston Villa as of 29 July 2006. After netting a quick double salvo against Walsall F.C. (the first a near-post header, the latter a close range finish) in a 5-0 victory, he then notched his third against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 3-0 victory, running onto Wilfred Bouma's through ball, and slotting past Michael Oakes to confirm the victory. The match was also the testimonial of legendary Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Steve Bull. Agbonlahor also netted in the second match of Aston Villa's tour, with a rocket of a strike against NEC Nijmegen, which turned out to be a mere consolation, in a 2-1 victory for the home team.

On the 20 September 2006, Agbonlahor was pencilled in as a player in the Nigeria U-20 team for the match against Rwanda. However, as of 24 September 2006, he is still deliberating whether to commit his international future to the England or Nigeria team. 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 U21s on October 6, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Gabriel Agbonlahor at bbc.co.uk
• Gabriel Agbonlahor career stats at Soccerbase
• http://www.gabrielagbonlahor.com

Aston Villa F.C. - Current Squad
1 Sørensen | 2 Delaney | 3 Samuel | 4 Mellberg | 5 Laursen | 6 Barry | 8 McCann | 9 Ángel | 10 Baroš | 11 Petrov | 12 Davis | 13 Taylor | 14 Djemba-Djemba | 15 Agbonlahor | 16 Bouma | 17 Whittingham | 18 Hughes | 19 Ridgewell | 20 Sutton | 21 Cahill | 22 Moore | 23 Berger | 25 Olejnik | 26 Gardner | 27 Osbourne | 31 Agathe | Manager: O'Neill