Aston Villa former star has just revealed the decisive reason behind his retirement at the final stage of his career.
The former Aston Villa man, Gabriel Agbonlahor, has become a well-known pundit for several media outlets since retiring. His ongoing calf injury issues reportedly became the main reason for hanging up his boots at the age of 31 years old. However, he recently revealed another key factor, as reported by Birmingham Mail from his appearance on the In the Mixer podcast.
“I finished my contract at Aston Villa and thought: ‘Let me just take my time on it.’ Then I remember my agent phoning me – I’ve never said this before…
“He was like: ‘Aberdeen?’ No disrespect to Aberdeen, but I put it in the satnav app and it said it was an eight-hour drive or something. So I sent it to him and I said: ‘I’m not sure this is going to work, it’s a bit far.’ He laughed and I was like: ‘No, I think I’ll stop!'”
Gabriel Agbonlahor was a true Villa man. His loyalty to the club was widely famous among the fans. After gaining promotion to the first team in 2005, he remained at Villa Park until 2018, when his tenure at his boyhood club came to an end.
The former frotman did receive offers from potential suitors during the peak of his career. From 2008 to 2016, the former striker was linked with moves to Tottenham, Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion on more than one occasion before attracting interest from Aberdeen once his contract expired. Yet, he refused to leave Villa.
The Birmingham native even stayed with the club after Villa fell into the second tier in 2016. Although he was no longer the prolific frontman he once was and had lost the captaincy, Agbonlahor remained committed to the team until he did not receive a new contract.
Throughout his career, Agbonlahor spent time away from Villa Park only twice, both on loan. Those spells came early in his career in 2005 with Watford and Sheffield Wednesday.
The 39-year-old pundit made 391 appearances for Villa, scoring 86 goals and providing 46 assists in all competitions. His standout season came in the 2009/10 campaign, when the former striker with three international caps, registered 16 goals and five assists in all competitions.
Sadly, his form began to decline in the following seasons due to injuries, a lack of physical fitness and disciplinary issues. The former frontman with Scottish and Nigerian descent recorded a noticeable drop-off in productivity.
From the 2010/11 season onwards, he never reached 15 goal contributions in all competitions, with 12 goals and five assists being his best return after his stellar campaign.
During his peak years, from 2006 to 2013, Agbonlahor also made important contributions against the Premier League’s traditional big four. In the 2007/08 season, for example, he scored one of the goals as Villa beat Chelsea 2-0 at home.
In 2008/09, he netted a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Manchester City and scored in a 2-0 victory against Arsenal at the Emirates. In 2009/10, Agbonlahor struck the winning goal as Villa defeated Manchester United 1-0 away from home.
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