Juan Pablo
Ángel born October 24, 1975 in Medellín) is a Colombian football
striker, who is currently playing for Aston Villa.
Ángel stated playing professional soccer at Atletico Nacional in
his home city of Medellín, Colombia. Ángel was sold to River
Plate, Argentina, were he was considered one of the best players.
When Ángel played in River spectators would put on angel wings
to represent Angel. Ángel is Aston Villa's record signing from
Argentinian side River Plate at £9.5 million, an increase of
£2.5 million on the previous record, set by Stan Collymore. He
is reportedly Villa's highest earner on £40,000 per week. After
an indifferent start to his Aston Villa career, he settled down
and started to produce the form that persuaded Doug Ellis to
shell out the massive transfer fee. He was the club's top scorer
in the 2003/04 season with 16 goals in the FA Premier League,
but slipped to seven goals in 2004/05.
A lot of Villa fans feel that the signing of a new lucrative
contract to warn off potential suiters and the small squad size
which virtually guarantees him a place in the team every week,
has allowed Angel to 'Rest on his laurels'.
Since the departure of Darius Vassell to Manchester City the
summer of 2005, Angel has been heaped with pressure to score
more goals. Milan Baros has been bought in however, to take off
some of the burden. It remains to be seen if the new front
pairing, nicknamed 'El Head-band Hombres' of Angel and Baros
will produce the goods for Aston Villa.
For Colombia, Ángel has appeared over 20 times, averaging a
ratio of nearly a goal every 2 games. |
