Gabriel Agbonlahor, who was once the toast of the English Premier League, playing top class soccer for Aston Villa and the English national team where he played three matches, has fallen unceremoniously from the peak of his career to the lowest rung of football as his club for the first time since 1987 were relegated from top flight football.
In November 2008, Agbonlahor’s footballing career was full of promises. An England call-up saw him play 76 minutes in a win against Germany, four days after petrifying the Arsenal defence for his boyhood club Aston Villa in a 2-0 win at the Emirates.
Gabriel, whose dad is a Phd holder in Chemical Engineering from Ondo State, said he decided to play for England national team in the U-19, U-21 and senior team as no invitation until ever came for him to play for the Nigeria national soccer team.
He said: “Playing for Nigeria was always in the back of my mind that I was eligible to play for the Super Eagles of Nigeria and England, but as a kid growing up all you ever think about is doing well for your club and playing for them week in week out, anything after that is a bonus.
For me there was nothing to consider. Neither my agent nor my club have ever had any formal contact from the Nigerian FA inviting me to play for the country or enquiring if I was even interested that I’ve ever been aware of.
Since then a lot of people asked me a lot why I rejected Nigeria or whether I regret the decision. The issue is how do you reject something you’re not offered? No official paperwork was received by any of my representatives or my club from the Nigerian FA that I am aware of and they have no reason not to tell me if there was.
“That time before my England debut, I had close affinity to Nigeria as my parents visit Nigeria often and always telling us stories growing up, speaking Yoruba a n d u s i n g typical Nigerian sayings to discipline us when we needed it.”
That song, an ode to Agbonlahor’s blistering pace, was heard home and away among Villa fans every week towards the end of last decade, but today you would struggle to hear a speck of praise for the Erdington-born forward. His fall has been steady but depressing.
Chiefly used as a striker alongside Norwegian John Carew during Martin O’Neill’s tenure, Agbonlahor enjoyed a four-year period under the Northern Irishman where he scored 50 goals and collected three England caps.
He was top league scorer for the club in 2008/09 and 2009/10, scored two winning goals against bitter rivals Birmingham City at St Andrews and was linked with a £15m move to Arsenal, but stuck with Villa as they formed a top-four push. “Gabby has a willingness to adapt his game and the same street footballer style and the same appetite for the game as Wayne Rooney and that comes through in his game,” O’Neill said in 2009.
When you point out things to Gabby he takes them on board and he is constantly improving.” While his finishing ability phased in and out, Agbonlahor’s number one asset was pace, and as soon as that resource was suppressed by either the opposition or Villa’s string of managers post-O’Neill, he was a mere spectator. He was forced out to the wing in 2012/13, where he has scored just 28 Premier League goals in the six seasons since O’Neill left.
March 18 marked the 10-year anniversary of his debut for Villa, but the word ‘testimonial’ could not be further from Villa fans’ lexicon. The current season has been a disaster for Villa and Agbonlahor, who has just one goal to his name.
Agbonlahor’s suspension pending an internal investigation following newspaper allegations that he used nitrous oxide comes just weeks after another probe into his behaviour during a break in Dubai in which he was reportedly seen smoking a shisha pipe.
Villa took no action on the Dubai incident, but from t h e fans’ point of view, the damage was done long ago. Agbonlahor, a Villa fan himself, continued to notch up appearances throughout dry goalscoring periods on the off chance that unforgettable acceleration would be restored and fire the club up the table again.
It never did, and the 29-year-old’s future at the club looks bleak. “I can’t think that he’s not 100 per cent involved and committed to the future of Aston Villa,” said former coach Remi Garde last month. “He knows he has a responsibility as a senior player and long-term Villa player.”
As Villa drop into the Championship, and with a new manager to come, it remains to be seen whether Agbonlahor will be utilised next season. His first task will be to get himself fit after Villa ruled him out of action while he undergoes a personal regime. He has kissed the badge as club captain, has 375 appearances for Villa and had the chance to be a cult hero.
Those few remaining romantics among Villa’s deflated faithful would long for Agbonlahor to turn around his fortunes under the new manager and ‘save’ the club from slipping further and lead them to promotion. But others will point to numerous occasions over the past few seasons where Agbonlahor had the chance to reverse Villa’s sleepwalk to relegation, and simply failed to turn up.
