Junior Agogo

Junior Agogo

Agogo playing for Ghana at the 2008 African Cup of Nations
Personal information
Full name	Manuel Agogo
Date of birth	(1979-08-01) 1 August 1979
Place of birth	Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana
Height
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1995–1997	Sheffield Wednesday
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1997–2000	Sheffield Wednesday	2	(0)
1999	→ Oldham Athletic (loan)	2	(0)
1999	→ Chester City (loan)	10	(6)
1999	→ Chesterfield (loan)	4	(0)
1999–2000	→ Lincoln City (loan)	3	(1)
2000	Chicago Fire	1	(0)
2000–2001	Colorado Rapids	32	(11)
2001	San Jose Earthquakes	14	(4)
2002	Queens Park Rangers	2	(0)
2002–2003	Barnet	39	(19)
2003–2006	Bristol Rovers	126	(41)
2006–2008	Nottingham Forest	64	(20)
2008–2009	Zamalek SC	15	(4)
2009–2011	Apollon Limassol	24	(6)
2011–2012	Hibernian	12	(1)
Total		350	(113)
International career‡
2003	England National Game XI	3	(0)
2006–2009	Ghana	27	(12)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:44, 13 January 2012 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 13 June 2010

Manuel "Junior" Agogo (born 1 August 1979) is a retired Ghanaian professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his career in England, as well as spells in the United States, Egypt, Cyprus and most recently Scotland.

In January 2015, Agogo was rushed to hospital following a suspected stroke.

Club career

Sheffield Wednesday

Born in Accra, Greater Accra, Agogo began his career at Sheffield Wednesday in 1995, but only made two league appearances for the Premier League side. During the 1999–00 season he had loan spells at Oldham Athletic, Chester City, Chesterfield, and Lincoln City. His goal for Chester against Cheltenham Town in October 1999, was voted the second-best goal ever scored at the Deva Stadium.

United States

In 2000 Agogo left Sheffield Wednesday and moved to the United States to play for the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer. He was traded to the Colorado Rapids after playing just one match in Chicago, going on to score 11 goals in 32 appearances for the Rapids.

He was traded from Colorado to the San Jose Earthquakes in June 2001 for Chris Carrieri. He played with the Earthquakes for the rest of the 2001 championship season but was waived early in the 2002 pre-season, replaced on the San Jose roster by Devin Barclay.

Back in England

In 2002, Agogo returned to England, this time with Queens Park Rangers. However, after only two appearances he moved to Football Conference side Barnet where he scored 21 goals in 39 games.

Bristol Rovers

In the summer of 2003, Agogo joined Third Division side Bristol Rovers. He played the first thirteen games of the 2003–04 season before having to have an operation which kept him out for the next nine games. He finished the campaign with 22 goals in all competitions. In the 2004–05 season, Agogo scored 20 goals in 51 appearances; the following season he scored 18 goals from 44 appearances.

Nottingham Forest

Agogo during his Nottingham Forest days.

In summer 2006 Rovers turned down bids from Agogo from Championship side Southend United and League One side Nottingham Forest Agogo had a clause in his contract allowing him to speak to other clubs if an acceptable bid was made. On 30 August 2006 the transfer to Forest was completed for an undisclosed fee, with Agogo signing a three-year contract. On September 2006 he made his league debut for Forest as a sub in a home 4–0 win against Chesterfield. He scored seven league goals over the season, with his first on 30 September 2006 against Swansea City in a 3–1 win.

On 22 September 2007 Agogo scored his first goals of the 2007–08 season, a hat-trick in a 4–0 win over Gillingham – the first of his career. He netted two long-range strikes that season with a 35-yard lob of the goalkeeper in Forest's 3–0 win at Yeovil Town and a 25-yard effort in Forest's 4–1 success against Southend United. However, Agogo scored only three goals after his return from the 2008 African Cup of Nations, one of which was against Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road. He finished as Forest's top-scorer that season with thirteen goals, helping the club gain automatic promotion to the Championship. Agogo was sold during the summer for a fee of £565,000 to Zamalek SC.

Zamalek

On 2 July 2008, Junior Agogo joined Zamalek SC at a time when the team needed a striker. He wore the number 19 shirt for El Zamalek but later shifted to number nine after Zamalek agreed to loan Amr Zaki to English side Wigan Athletic for one year. Though ever since the player entered the club he could not compensate for the absence of the Egyptian international and has been having disputes with the club official regularly until it hit what seemed to be a dead end.

Apollon Limassol

Agogo joined Apollon Limassol on 5 August 2009, signing a two-year contract with the Cypriots.

Hibernian

Agogo signed a one-year contract with Scottish Premier League club Hibernian, who were managed by his former Nottingham Forest manager, Colin Calderwood, in July 2011. Agogo scored his first goal for Hibs on 24 September 2011, in a 3–3 draw against Dundee United. He was released from his contract in January 2012, after making 14 appearances for the club.

International career

In May 2006 Agogo was called up by Ghana for a friendly against French league side OGC Nice. However, he was not included in the final Ghanaian World Cup squad. He was recalled to the Ghana squad for an East Asia tour in which he faced Japan and South Korea.

On 14 November 2006, Agogo scored his first goal for Ghana, the equaliser in a friendly against Australia; the game finished 1–1. He also scored the third goal in Ghana's 4–1 victory over Nigeria, played at Brentford's Griffin Park.

Agogo was called up to the Ghana squad for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. He played in the first game of the cup against Guinea, hitting the post with a header in the 20th minute and helping Ghana to a 2–1 victory. He then scored in the following game against Namibia, tapping home Michael Essien's cross for the only goal of the game.

Agogo then netted another goal, the winner in the quarter final against Nigeria. Ghana missed out on the final, however, and had to settle for a third-place play-off against the Côte d'Ivoire, in which he scored again in 4–2 victory. Alongside Sulley Muntari he was Ghana's top scorer in the competition.

In total, Agogo scored 12 goals in 27 matches for the national team between 2006 and 2009.

Honours

Club

Apollon Limassol

• Cypriot Cup: 2010

Nottingham Forest

• League One: Runner-up 2007–08

San Jose Earthquakes

• MLS Cup: 2001

International

Ghana

• Africa Cup of Nations: Third-Place 2008

External links

• Junior Agogo Official Website
• Junior Agogo career statistics at Soccerbase
• Manuel Agogo career statistics at Soccerbase – another profile for the same player
• Lincoln City F.C. Official Archive Profile
• Unofficial Junior Agogo Profile at The Forgotten Imp