O'Neill has watched the 23-year-old England striker make steady progress over the years and believes he can learn from the example of Wayne Rooney in improving his all-round game.

Agbonlahor, who is a product of Villa's youth system, is just one off half a century of goals for the Midlands club and the Villa manager reckons the Birmingham-born player can get even better.

He said: "Gabby has obviously improved since he was a kid and first came into the Villa side. 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. He has said he has started practising heading goals to make himself the complete player and I think there are lessons to be learnt.

"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, gives you the confidence from being in the six yard box and being comfortable inside the six-yard box."