22 now, is Gabby ready for the senior England team?

By: Martini Extra Dry | October 14th, 2008

On Monday he celebrated his 22nd birthday and at such a tender age he has already achieved many of his dreams and is well on the way to plenty more, and England U21 manager Stuart Pearce is one of many firm believers in the abilities and potential of our Holte End hero Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Agbon is a life-long Villa fan and is now living his dream by not just being on the books but also being a first team regular and essential part of our recent success. I was at Villa Park just over a year ago when we beat Inter Milan 3-0 and when Aggy came off it was to the whole of Villa Park chanting his name. The smile on his face even gave me an immense glow of pride for him. How amazing must it be to have 30,000 people chanting your name at the ground you’ve grown up worshipping. Fair play to our Gabby, he deserves his praise.

Agbon has now been playing for the England U21 side for a while and is now flirting with the senior squad though he hasn’t yet made an appearance. Is he ready to earn that first cap? I think… yes and no.

Gabby is a fantastic player for us and often proves vital, such as his seven minute hat-trick against Man City earlier this season or his off the line clearance against Birmingham City before scoring at the other end moments later to steal a late win against our rivals. Agbon has also proven that he isn’t just effective against the weaker defences such as when he scored the opener in our 2-0 win over Chelsea last season.

But for all the danger he could cause opponents as a ’super-sub’ for England, I don’t think he’s ready yet to start. Sure he’ll score more goals than Emile Heskey but Emile is a perfect example of everything that Gabby isn’t. Emile holds the ball up, wins flick-on headers and puts strikers in on goal. Agbon is not fully matured in this region of his game, which is why he’s not yet ready for an England start.

As for getting into the squad, I feel this will come for him soon (unless his form declines) and training with the likes of Heskey and Rooney can only help him to develop the areas of his game that aren’t as perfected as his lightning pace and deadly runs.

England U21 manager Stuart Pearce had this to say of our man last week:

“Agbonlahor gives us a cutting edge – pace and power in attack gives us cutting edge.

“He’s a major threat at this level and he’s a major threat in the Premier League.

“He is one of the big driving forces behind Aston Villa when they do well. The cutting edge in their team certainly comes from him.

“He is improving. If you ask me if I think he can get even better, then I think so (getting into the senior side).

“I think that will come over the next couple of years. He needs to try to have a tilt at getting into the seniors on a regular basis.

“I think he can improve all-round. His pace is legendary and I don’t think he can improve that but his sharpness around the box, goalscoring and hold-up play can all improve.

“He’s a very strong boy and there is senior football in him as well. That has to be our aim to get him from this team into the seniors on a regular basis, if we can.

“If you look at what Theo’s pace did against Croatia and maybe on Saturday against Kazakhstan, Gabi’s got the same – blistering pace. At international level that is a fantastic commodity to have.

“But everybody in our camp is looking forward to this game and we want to put a show on and get to the finals of a major tournament.”