O'Neill foresees Gabby growth

Agbonlahor: O'Neill support

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Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill believes Gabriel Agbonlahor can follow Wayne Rooney's lead and develop into a 20-goal-a-season striker.

Rooney has passed 100 Premier League goals en route to scoring 30 goals so far this season - already the 24-year-old's best-ever season haul with at least another 11 games left to play.

Agbonlahor is on the verge of his own landmark as the 23-year-old striker stands on 49 goals for Villa heading into Saturday's league game at Stoke.

Rooney has hit another level with Manchester United this season, boosting his tally with a series of recent headers, and O'Neill feels Agbonlahor can also develop his game and become a more complete frontman.

"Gabby has obviously improved since he was a kid and first came into the Villa side," he said. "He has got stronger for a start and his technique is improving.

"When you get to the 22-23 age bracket, you would think that players would maybe not be able to improve their technique anymore. But I think you only have to look at Wayne Rooney.

Practice

"He has said he has started practising heading goals to make himself the complete player and I think there are lessons to be learnt."

While Rooney is guaranteed a World Cup spot for England this summer if he stays fit, Agbonlahor is hoping to stake a late claim for selection having already won three caps under Fabio Capello.

Agbonlahor so far has 14 goals this season and regardless of whether he does enough to make the squad, O'Neill is confident he has a bright future.

"If Gabby eventually gets 50, his next target should be 100 and the quicker he gets it, the better for him," added the Villa boss. "He has got plenty of things in his career to look forward to.

"I think he is capable of getting 20 goals (a season). I wouldn't put it past him. Sometimes, you can learn the knack of scoring what you would consider tap-in goals, little rebounds off keepers.

"Once you have added two or three of those a season to your list of goals, it gives you the confidence from being in the six-yard box and being comfortable inside the six-yard box."

Carew consistency

Agbonlahor is back in contention to face Stoke after recovering from the stomach upset which ruled him out of the FA Cup win at Reading on Sunday.

But John Carew gave O'Neill a selection dilemma by scoring a hat-trick and it is a problem the Villa boss welcomes as they aim to secure fourth place and reach the FA Cup final.

"Too often there has not been that situation because players have not been available and it is nice to have that dilemma to deal with," he said.

"It was a big boost for John to get the hat-trick and the one thing we have always said about John is that we look for that level of consistency you want in a player.

"We have seen this in the past. We sit here and we have these conversations at the time. John had a great, great end to last year, he came in and scored several goals for us.

"But it's that consistent application, which is vitally important - and this goes for any player."