Sign up NOW for our daily Villa newsletter direct to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Steve Bruce has revealed the depths Gabby Agbonlahor has gone to in order to get himself back into shape.

Aston Villa’s once-maligned forward has shed more than a stone in weight since Bruce took charge six weeks ago.

His fitness regime has been taken to new lengths recently, with Agbonlahor taking a dip in the club’s Bodymoor Heath swimming pool.

And by the sounds of it, former captain Agbonlahor will be needing the armbands for some time yet.

Bruce joked: “He’s even started swimming, would you believe? He’s not very fond of it, but he’s trying. It’s not a very pleasant sight when he’s in the swimming pool I have to tell you, but he’s trying like a beast!

“I had to come out because it was that embarrassing. I had to throw him a floater.”

Agbonlahor was banished to train with the kids by previous manager Roberto Di Matteo, who didn’t include the Brummie in his plans.

But Bruce immediately handed him a clean slate upon arriving at Villa Park and used him against Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers from the bench before handing him a surprise start against Brighton & Hove Albion last week.

“The first day when I walked in at seven o’clock, he was walking across the car park getting ready to train with the 17-year-olds,” Bruce added.

“We turned him around and said ‘get ready to train at two o’clock with the first team’. And since that moment, he’s grasped the situation and done everything he can.

“It’s fair to say that whatever happened in the past, I’ve said it many times, is irrelevant. He has worked extremely hard and the game before Brighton, he turned it our way. He came on as a substitute and made a big impact.

“He is a big character in the dressing room and I think they have all been taken aback by how hard he’s worked.”

Agbonlahor’s inclusion at Brighton was a reward for his commitment to the fitness programme.

But Bruce admits his eagerness to reward the 30-year-old might have cost him a place in tomorrow’s squad, with the striker struggling with a calf problem.

“He was ahead of schedule last week. Maybe I shouldn’t have played him and then he would have been fine.

“I still think he’ll be OK for Saturday but he was definitely going to get a few niggles because he’s basically worked that hard.

“The only problem is that he’s picked up a niggle on Wednesday, but it’s understandable given the amount of work we’ve put into him over the last six weeks.

“He’s got 80-odd goals in 300 games in the Premier League and a lot of those have been in a struggling team.

"He’s a class act in terms of footballing ability. The rest is up to him and so far, touch wood, he’s buying into exactly what we want.”