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, with loan spells at Watford and Sheffield Wednesday in his late teens.
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 was their leading Premier League goalscorer, with 74 across 11 consecutive league seasons, until Ollie Watkins broke his record in May 2025. Formerly a regular with the England under-21s, Agbonlahor made his senior international debut for England in 2008 and earned three caps.
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 in 1994. 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.
Agbonlahor's Premier League debut for Villa came on 18 March 2006 at the age of 19, under manager David O'Leary, against Everton at Goodison Park. O'Leary was forced to delve into the youth academy because of a lack of senior strikers due to injury, thus earning Agbonlahor a rare start. He scored after 63 minutes, although Villa went on to lose the match 4–1.
In five pre-season matches of the 2006–07 season, Agbonlahor netted three goals for Aston Villa; a quick double salvo against Walsall (the first a near-post header, the latter a close range finish) in a 5–0 victory, and a consolation strike in a 2–1 defeat at NEC. Agbonlahor started the season on the right wing in Martin O'Neill's new-look Villa team, and would be part of the team that managed to get a point from the first Premier League match at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium. Agbonlahor's first goal of the season came at home against Charlton Athletic in a 2–0 win. On 30 September, Agbonlahor scored a crucial equaliser against Premiership champions Chelsea just before half-time, heading in Liam Ridgewell's cross with a glancing header to earn Villa a 1–1 draw.
Agbonlahor also provided cup heroics in 2006, scoring an injury-time winner to beat Leicester City 3–2 at the Walkers Stadium. The following match, he scored a consolation effort in Villa's first loss of the season, on 28 October, ten matches in. Agbonlahor completed his run of scoring against the so-called "Big Four", when he scored against Manchester United. Aston Villa were beaten 3–1 in the match at Old Trafford. Agbonlahor then scored deep into injury time in the following match, against Watford on 20 January 2007, to end a Villa winless run that stretched back to 11 November.
Agbonlahor had played every minute of Aston Villa's campaign in 2006–07, 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 Agbonlahor, who had been playing out of position on the right wing for much of the season, had done superbly. Following this break, Agbonlahor scored from the right-wing against Everton on 2 April to gain Villa a valuable point. Following this match, Agbonlahor signed a new-four-year contract at Villa. 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 made it three in a row on Easter Monday, again scoring an equaliser, adjudged to have crossed the line by assistant referee Dave Richardson.
Agbonlahor also scored the vital second goal in the match between Aston Villa and Chelsea on 2 September, in which Villa won 2–0. Agbonlahor headed the winning goal in the 86th minute of the Second City derby away to Birmingham on 11 November, shortly after saving the ball on the line from a Liam Ridgewell shot. Agbonlahor won the Premier League Player of the Month award for November and manager Martin O'Neill won the equivalent award for the same month. On 12 April 2008, Agbonlahor scored the fourth goal against Derby County in a 6–0 victory at Pride Park Stadium in the Premier League. In the Second City derby against Birmingham City on 20 April 2008, he scored the fifth and final goal in the 5–1 victory.
On 15 August 2008, Agbonlahor signed a new four-year contract with Villa, tying him to the club until 2012. Following his contract extension, on 17 August 2008, Agbonlahor scored a "perfect" hat-trick (scoring goals with his head, right foot and left foot) against Manchester City in Villa's opening match of the 2008–09 Premier League season at Villa Park. The three goals were netted in the space of seven minutes, making it the third-fastest hat-trick in the history of the Premier League after Robbie Fowler and Sadio Mané. He was later named man of the match for this performance, which led to a 4–2 victory.
Early in the season, he began to form a successful strike partnership with teammate John Carew, this demonstrated in the Premier League away matches against West Bromwich Albion and Wigan Athletic where both players scored in both matches and provided assists. On 3 November 2008, Agbonlahor was at the centre of a controversy with Newcastle United's Joey Barton when, during the match, Barton appeared to brush his fingers on Agbonlahor's face. It later emerged that Barton's attack might have been race-orientated but, after careful consideration by both Aston Villa and The Football Association, no further action was taken. On 8 November, it emerged in some national newspapers that the reason Agbonlahor decided not to pursue legal action against Barton was because he "felt sorry" for him. On 15 November, he scored once and played a part in the other goal, when Aston Villa beat Arsenal 2–0 at Emirates Stadium. He scored a brace against Bolton Wanderers on 13 December. Agbonlahor notched his tenth league goal of the season in the 90th minute in a 2–0 win against Blackburn Rovers on 7 February.
However, this was a high point in a dismal run of form in which he scored just one goal in 12 league matches. Some fans began to get frustrated with Agbonlahor, and in Villa's home defeat against Tottenham Hotspur, there were some sarcastic cheers as he was substituted off by Martin O'Neill. He was subsequently dropped to the bench for Villa's next match away to Liverpool, which Villa lost 5–0. After the heavy defeat to Liverpool and despite his lack of form, Agbonlahor was recalled to the starting 11 and went on to score a goal against Manchester United on 5 April in a 3–2 defeat for Villa. Agbonlahor was nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year, with teammate Ashley Young ultimately winning the honour.
Agbonlahor's first goal of the 2009–10 season came in a 2–0 home victory over Fulham on 30 August 2009, scoring from 25 yards. The striker scored the only goal in the season's opening Second City derby against Birmingham City, netting an open header past Joe Hart as a result of a free kick taken by Ashley Young. Agbonlahor scored his third goal of the season scoring in a 2–0 win against Portsmouth. He scored his fourth and fifth consecutive goals of the season against Cardiff City in the League Cup and Blackburn in the Premier League. His next goal came on 24 October 2009 against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux in the Premier League. Fellow Villa forward Emile Heskey played the ball into the penalty area where Agbonlahor turned a defender and placed a low shot past Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey. The match finished 1–1.