Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor can break into the senior England team if he continues his rapid development, believes Martin O'Neill.
O'Neill backs his rising young star
Aston Villa's young striker Gabriel Agbonlahor can break into the senior England team if he continues his rapid development.
That is the view of his manager Martin O'Neill, who has seen a great improvement in 20-year-old Agbonlahor since he broke into the Villa team.
Agbonlahor, who has scored three times for Villa this season, will be playing for the England Under 21s against Montenegro at the Walkers Stadium on Friday evening.
And O'Neill believes it is only a matter of time before he earns a full cap if he continues his current improvement.
Better
O'Neill said: "Gabby is getting stronger and better as a player. His ability to get the ball down and shield it from opposing players has really improved.
"He's really developed that part of his game. Gabby's time will come with England if he continues to play and develop the way he is doing.
"Everyone must be able to see the difference in him from this time last year when he had just broken into the team."
Paying tribute to his young striker's work-ethic, O'Neill added: "Our midfielder Patrik Berger said to me after the West Ham game that he felt Gabby had come on leaps and bounds in terms of his improvement and that's great credit to the lad.
Ambition
"Gabby wants to learn, wants to play and wants to do really well. He's got a driving ambition. He really works at his game.
"His strength is there for all to see, whereas he might have been a bit lightweight before.
"He's got the pace so he knows he can get beyond people, but it's his ability to hold the ball which has most surprised people.
"I saw it at the back end of last season and he's improving all the time."
O'Neill's comments come after England Under 21 boss Stuart Pearce predicted that Agbonlahor could be the next of his charges to make the step up to the senior squad.
