The future looks grim for Gabby Agbonlahor, as Aston Villa chiefs have reportedly made clear that he will not feature for the club again.
Having rejected a deadline-day loan move to Reading, The Sun claim that the 29-year-old angered the Villa hierarchy and will now be forced to train with the youth team after snubbing the chance to prove himself at their Championship rivals with regular playing time.
“Gabby has condemned himself to spending the next four months in exile, training with the kids,” a source told the Sun. “It’s fair to say the new owner was not impressed by his lack of ambition.
“He is one of the club’s highest-paid players and seems content with that. Now he must be resigned to never playing for Aston Villa again.”
Owner Tony Xia made his displeasure known publicly on Twitter by questioning whether or not the out-of-favour striker was a ‘real man’.
I was disappointed with this. I said2gabby that going somewhere even he unlikes playing convince us a real man. https://t.co/EcIOXRLfG1
— Dr. Tony Xia (@Dr_TonyXia) August 31, 2016
Agbonlahor infuriated the club and supporters with his off-the-pitch antics last season, with Villa winning just three games all year as they eventually dropped down to the Championship with their captain doing little to help their cause.
From partying in Dubai with a shisha to using laughing gas as he partied in London, his poor fitness saw him dropped from the first-team and put on a personal regime as he struggled to regain the respect of all concerned.
Although there was evidence on his social media pages that he was working hard over the summer to get himself back in shape, it appears as though it hasn’t been enough to impress Roberto Di Matteo who hasn’t selected him at all so far this season.
In turn, Agbonlahor’s latest move seems to have riled all concerned further, and having decided not to go out and prove himself again at Reading, he’ll now have to suffer the consequences of continuing to be ignored at Villa Park.