Gabby Agbonlahor could stay at Aston Villa for life

The Villa boss reckons the 26-year-old can be a one club man to emulate Paolo Maldini and Ryan Giggs.

Agbonlahor is on the brink of becoming Villa's record Premier League goalscorer after equalling Dwight Yorke's 60-goal haul in the win at Stoke last weekend.

He made his Villa debut a decade ago and, ahead of tomorrow's visit of Fulham, has scored 74 goals in 284 games.

Lambert said: "It's a unique thing that, a guy staying at a club for that length of time. I don't know who's the last one to do that.

"Paolo Maldini maybe at Milan, Steven Gerrard at Liverpool and Ryan Giggs at Manchester United. There's not many stay at a football club for the length of time that those guys have.

"But he's that type of player — a local lad who only wants to play for one club — his club. People can identify with him.

"Gabby's only in his mid-twenties, so he's still got a lot of football left in him and a lot of time to try to do well.

"There's no doubt he's on top of his game. His goalscoring at the minute has been excellent and I know he's equalled Dwight Yorke's goal tally.

"Given time, he will surpass it because he's playing really, really well. I think he enjoys that role where he's playing."

Ciaran Clark is back in training after injuring his shoulder on international duty with the Republic of Ireland last month, but Lambert will wait until the last minute to make a decision.

He said: "He trained yesterday, his first day back since the national game. We will see how he is today and tomorrow.

"You are never quite sure how long it is going to take but I think he has come back quicker than we thought."