Gabriel Agbonlahor

He is an English football player. He plays as a striker.

Gabriel Agbonlahor (born October 13, 1986 in Birmingham) is an English footballer for Aston Villa, of half Nigerian and half Scottish descent due to his Nigerian father and Scottish mother. Agbonlahor is a recent product of the Aston Villa Academy system.
Agbonlahor was first noticed playing for local side Great Barr Falcons, where his quick pace brought him success as a young teenager. He was spotted by boyhood team Aston Villa - although sources at the club later admitted that his raw pace was his only real attribute, and he needed work on the fundamentals of the game. This was later backed up by the fact that Agbonlahor had to choose between a career in football or athletics - a sport where he had showed obvious talent with his pace.
In the 2002/03 season, playing his first season for the Academy, Agbonlahor notched an impressive 9 goals in 18 appearances. He followed this up with a tally of 35 goals in 29 games in the 2003/04 season, a feat which was comparable to Darius Vassell's 38 goals in 1997/98. With Agbonlahor's 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 U-20 International Soccer Challenge in Adelaide, Australia. Agbonlahor netted in the opening match, a 2-0 victory over AIS, before scoring in the 2-2 draw against AC Milan - which 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 37 appearances for Aston Villa 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 Villa finished Runners-Up to Urawa Red Diamonds.
Agbonlahor was given his Premiership debut soon after that against Everton. He scored on his Premiership debut for Aston Villa against Everton at Goodison Park on 18 March 2006 although Villa did lose the match 4–1.
Other notable contributions in the Premier League include coming 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. Also, on 30 September 2006 Agbonlahor scored a crucial equaliser against Premiership champions Chelsea just before half-time, nodding in Liam Ridgewell's astute glancing header to earn Villa a hard-earned 1-1 draw.
In five pre-season games of the 2006-2007 season, Agbonlahor netted four goals in five games for Aston Villa. 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. Agbonlahor also netted in the second match of Aston Villa's tour against NEC Nijmegen, which turned out to be a consolation goal, in a 2-1 victory for NEC Nijmegen.
Agbonlahor would start 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. Agbonlahor's first goal of the season would come at home against Charlton, in a 2-0 win. He would also score in the following game, away at Chelsea, on September 30, a match which Aston Villa draw as part of a long Premiership unbeaten run.
Agbonlahor would also provide cup heroics in 2006, scoring an injury time of extra time winner to beat Leicester City at the Walkers Stadium, by a score of three goals to two. The following game, he would score a consolation effort in Villa's first loss of the season, on October 28, ten games in.
Agbonlahor would complete his run of scoring at the big teams, when he added Manchester United to a list of his victims that included Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. Villa were beaten 3-1 in the game at Old Trafford. Agbonlahor would then score deep into injury time in the following game, against Watford on January 20, to end a Villa winless run that stretched back to November 11.
Gabriel Agbonlahor had played every minute of Aston Villa's campaign in 2006-2007, 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 the young 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 would go on a scoring spree. He scored from the right wing against Everton on April 2, to gain Villa a valuable point. 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 would make it three in a row on Easter Monday, again scoring an equaliser, adjudged to have crossed the line by Assistant referee D. Richardson. Following the Everton game, Agbonlahor signed a new four year contract at Aston Villa. Agbonlahor also scored the vital second goal in the match between Aston Villa and Chelsea on 2 September 2007 in which Villa won 2-0.
On 20 September 2006, Agbonlahor was pencilled in as a player in the Nigeria U-20 team for the match against Rwanda. He turned down the chance, whilst not ruling out playing for the country in the future. Although he has since pledged his future to England.
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.
Agbonlahor was then omitted from the England's U-21 Championship squad, by manager Stuart Pearce, on 30th 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 Stuart Pearce, in September 2007, netting his first goal for the U-21s, by scoring the second in a 3-0 victory, over Montenegro U-21.

Aston Villa
13 October 1986
Source: Wikipedia