I was a one-club Premier League striker, only Arsenal could have turned my head and I still would have said no.
One-club players have become a dying breed in football as the lure of huge contracts and top-level football has become impossible for stars turn down.
For others, they are forced to seek pastures new against their wishes, as Lionel Messi endured when leaving Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
But for one former top-flight star, a potential switch to a Premier League giant would not have been enough to prise him away from his beloved club.
“Growing up Arsenal were my second team, Villa were my main team but I loved watching the Invincibles team of Pires, Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira and Ljungberg,” former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor told talkSPORT.
“Honestly, that team was outstanding. If Arsenal had come calling, I would have maybe spoken to them but I would have obviously turned them down because I’m a Villa man.”
Agbonlahor faced off against the Gunners 19 times during his 13-year career, scoring once in a 2-0 win at the Emirates in November 2008.
With the exception of brief loan spells at Watford and Sheffield Wednesday, he spent his entire career at Villa Park, scoring 86 goals in 391 games.
The Birmingham native earned 16 caps for England Under 21s before breaking into the senior set up where he represented the Three Lions on three occasions.
To this day, Agbonlahor continues to spout his love for the Midlands club who continue their incredible renaissance under Unai Emery.
But it hasn’t always been plain sailing for Aston Villa, particularly during the striker’s playing days which included an FA Cup final defeat in 2015 and relegation to the Championship in 2016.
But despite the low moments, Agbonlahor says he would not have swapped the famous claret and blue shirt for any other and when quizzed on which clubs he had no interest in ever representing, the now 38-year-old kept his Midlands allegiances firmly in his mind.
“When I was playing, Stoke annoyed me,” he added. “Just their football, it was so physical you’d go there and get beaten up on the pitch. You’d get bullied, so that was a team I never would have wanted to play for. I didn’t like the football they played.
“Obviously, West Brom, Wolves, local rivals. I disliked them a lot, I wouldn’t have played for them.”
