Patrick Agyemang


Patrick Agyemang is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played for clubs including Wimbledon, Gillingham, Preston North End, Queens Park Rangers and Portsmouth.
Agyemang began his career at Wimbledon, progressing through the club's youth system. He was loaned out to Brentford in October 1999 for three months, before returning to his parent club. Agyemang went on to play regularly for Wimbledon for the next four seasons. He joined Gillingham in January 2004, spending ten months with the club. He attracted the interest of Preston North End in November 2004, who signed Agyemang for a fee of £350,000. He spent four seasons at Preston, before joining Queens Park Rangers in 2008. He was part of the QPR team that earned promotion to the Premier League during the 2010–11 season. During the 2011–12 season, Agyemang was loaned out to Championship side Millwall on a one-month loan deal. He was loaned out for a second time in January 2012, this time joining Stevenage on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. Agyemang signed for Stevenage on a permanent basis in August 2012. In February 2013, he joined Portsmouth on loan for the rest of the campaign. He signed for the club permanently in May 2013, and was released by mutual consent in March 2015.
He has been capped twice by the Ghana national team, scoring one goal.

Club career

Early career

Born in Walthamstow, London, Agyemang began his career at Wimbledon, where he came through the youth ranks. In October 1999, having made no first team appearances for Wimbledon, Agyemang was loaned out to Brentford on a three-month loan deal. He made his debut in a 2–1 home defeat to Gillingham on 19 October 1999, coming on as a 56th-minute substitute in the match. Agyemang made 12 appearances for Brentford during the three-month spell, of which three were starting appearances. He returned to Wimbledon in January 2000.
The 2000–01 season was Agyemang's breakthrough season at Wimbledon, with the player starting the first game of the season, a 0–0 home draw with Tranmere Rovers. Agyemang was almost ever-present during the campaign, and he scored his first professional goal in February 2001, scoring in a 2–2 away draw against Wycombe Wanderers. The goal sparked a run of five goals in nine appearances for Agyemang, as he ended the season with five goals in 37 appearances. The following season, Agyemang scored four goals in 35 games as Wimbledon finished in ninth place in Division One despite financial difficulties. Agyemang scored six goals in 36 games during the 2002–03 season, before scoring seven goals during the first half of the 2003–04 season. Due to Wimbledon's financial problems, Agyemang was sold to Division One rivals Gillingham in January 2004 for a fee of £150,000. Agyemang stated he "never wanted to leave Wimbledon", but understood the financial problems the club were facing. Wimbledon manager Stuart Murdoch revealed he was told he could not play Agyemang in certain games towards the end of his time at the club "in case injury jeopardised the deal", with the club desperately in need of the funds from his sale.
Agyemang made his Gillingham debut in a 2–1 away loss to Derby County on 17 January 2004, and scored his first goal for the club two weeks later — netting the only goal of the game as Gillingham beat Bradford City 1–0 at Priestfield. He went on to score a further five goals during the latter stages of the 2003–04 season, which included the first brace of his career against Walsall, as well as the winner against his former employers, Wimbledon. The following season, Agyemang scored twice for Gillingham in 14 appearances in the opening months of the campaign, before attracting the interest of fellow Championship side Preston North End.

Preston North End

In November 2004, Preston announced they had agreed a fee for Agyemang, with the transfer worth in the region of £350,000. The transfer was officially completed on 16 November 2004. He made his Preston debut in a 1–0 away win against Cardiff City on 19 November 2004, playing the first 73 minutes of the match. Agyemang scored his first goal for Preston in the club's 3–0 home win over Reading in December 2004. He went on to make 31 appearances in his first season with the Lancashire side, chipping in with four goals, but ultimately finished the campaign behind Richard Cresswell and David Nugent in the pecking order. Agyemang was almost ever present in Preston's 2005–06 campaign, scoring six times in 49 matches, including playing in both of Preston's play-off games — with Preston losing by a 3–1 aggregate scoreline to Leeds United. The six goals he scored during the season meant he was the club's second highest goalscorer for the season.
Agyemang spent much of his first seasons at Deepdale making appearances from the substitute's bench. However, injuries to key players saw him start games early in the 2006–07 season, scoring a memorable winner against West Bromwich Albion. He scored seven times in 33 appearances during the campaign, with Preston narrowly missing out on the play-offs by a point. The 2007–08 season witnessed Agyemang score four goals in 22 appearances for Preston, including a brace in a 5–1 home win against Southampton.

Queens Park Rangers

In January 2008, Agyemang was linked to both Leicester City and Queens Park Rangers, with his Preston contract set to expire in the summer of 2008. He ultimately signed for Queens Park Rangers, for a nominal fee on 3 January 2008, on a four and a half-year contract. Agyemang made his QPR debut just two days after signing for the club, coming on as a second-half substitute in the club's narrow 1–0 FA Cup defeat away to Chelsea. In the club's next match, he scored his first goal in a 2–1 away defeat against Sheffield United. He went on to score a further seven goals in five league games, the richest goalscoring form of his career. He made 18 appearances for QPR during the second half of the 2007–08 season, scoring nine goals. The 2008–09 season witnessed Agyemang struggle for starts at QPR, with the forward making just twelve starting appearances during the campaign, and 23 appearances in total, scoring two goals.
In January 2010, after struggling for first-team appearances at QPR, Agyemang signed on loan for Championship side Bristol City until the end of the 2009–10 season. He made his first start for Bristol City in a 6–0 home defeat to Cardiff City, and went on to make seven appearances during an injury-hit four months with the club. He returned to the QPR team for their successful 2010–11 season, scoring his first goal of the season in a 2–2 draw away at Derby County — the goal came in injury time and helped QPR maintain their unbeaten start to the season. A stress fracture of his tibia would ultimately rule Agyemang out for the majority of the season. He went on to make 19 appearances in the league, all of them coming off the bench, as QPR won promotion to the Premier League.
Following the signing of new strikers DJ Campbell and Jay Bothroyd, Agyemang found first-team football hard to come by, although he did start in the club's first away game of the season, a 1–0 win against Everton at Goodison Park. The following week, on 27 August 2011, he played the whole match as QPR lost 2–0 away to Wigan Athletic, which would ultimately be Agyemang's final QPR appearance for the season. Agyemang was made available for loan in October 2011. He subsequently joined Championship team Millwall on a 28-day loan deal on 13 October 2011. Agyemang made his Millwall debut two days after signing, on 15 October, playing the first 45 minutes in a 1–1 away draw against Middlesbrough. He made one further appearance during his loan spell, a late substitute appearance against Brighton & Hove Albion, and returned to QPR in November 2011. However, Agyemang was omitted from QPR's 25-man squad for the remainder of the season.

Stevenage

In March 2012, after four months without first-team football, Agyemang joined League One side Stevenage, on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. The move re-united Agyemang with Gary Smith, who had previously coached him at Wimbledon. He made his Stevenage debut two days after joining the club, on 10 March, playing the first 61 minutes in Stevenage's 2–2 home draw against Chesterfield. Agyemang scored his first goal for Stevenage in a 6–0 away win against Yeovil Town, latching onto Jamaal Lascelles through pass before scoring with a "tidy finish". He also assisted Luke Freeman's first goal in the same match. Agyemang's fitness improved vastly during his time at Stevenage, and he went on to make 15 appearances for the club as they narrowly lost in the play-off semi-final to Sheffield United. On returning to QPR, it was announced that Agyemang would leave the club when his contract expired in June 2012.
Agyemang spent the early stages of pre-season ahead of the 2012–13 season training with Stevenage, and went on the club's pre-season tour of Ireland. In August 2012, he went on a week's trial with Bidvest Wits of the Premier Soccer League in South Africa. However, no move materialised, and, on 31 August, he signed for Stevenage on a free transfer.

Portsmouth

Having made 16 appearances for Stevenage during the first half of the season, without finding the scoresheet, Agyemang joined Portsmouth on a one-month loan deal in February 2013. He made his first appearance for Portsmouth in a 2–0 defeat to Bournemouth on 9 February, playing the first 65 minutes of the match. Agyemang scored his first goal for the club during his sixth appearance, on 2 March, finding the bottom corner of the goal after shooting on the turn in a 2–1 away victory against Crewe Alexandra. He also assisted Portsmouth's other goal in the match, as they ended a run of 23-games without a win. Agyemang's loan deal was extended for a further month on 8 March 2013. He scored his second goal for the club in his tenth appearance on 23 March, heading in Liam Walker's cross with fifteen minutes to go in a 2–0 victory over Coventry City at Fratton Park. Agyemang added a third goal to his Portsmouth tally on the final day of the 2012–13 season, scoring from close range in Portsmouth's 3–2 away defeat to Shrewsbury Town on 27 April 2013. Although Portsmouth were relegated to League Two during his time on loan with the club, his impressive performances were described as a "critical reason for the marked improvement" as Portsmouth ended the season in good form. He made 15 appearances during the loan spell, and expressed a desire to remain at Portsmouth on a permanent basis. Shortly after the end of the season, Agyemang agreed a two-year deal with Portsmouth, joining the club officially on 1 July, after his Stevenage contract expired.
On 24 March 2015, after a period on loan at Dagenham & Redbridge, Agyemang left Portsmouth by mutual consent.

Later career

In November 2017, Agyemang came out of retirement to join Baffins Milton Rovers of the Wessex League Premier Division. Agyemang didn't make a league appearance during his time at the club.
On 18 August 2018, Agyemang started for Cray Valley Paper Mills in a 5–3 away win against Lordswood.

International career

Agyemang made his international debut for Ghana against Nigeria on 30 May 2003, in the 4-Nation LG Cup in Abuja, with Nigeria winning the match 3–1. He scored Ghana's solitary goal in the match, netting just three minutes into his debut.
He was named in Ghana's 40-man preliminary squad ahead of the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, although failed to make the final squad. In February 2006, Agyemang was called up to play for Ghana in the pre-2006 World Cup international friendly against Mexico on 1 March 2006, played in the USA. He started the match, playing 74 minutes before being substituted for Alex Tachie-Mensah. Despite impressing in the friendly, Agyemang did not make Ghana's 23-man squad.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
130 May 2003National Stadium, Abuja, Nigeria1–01–3Friendly

Honours

Queens Park Rangers
  • Football League Championship: 2010–11