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