Juan Pablo calls it a day

[Toronto Villa]

I still remember when we signed him and the excitement of signing a player from South America, and forward at that from such a famous club like River Plate. He probably didn't fulfill his potential with us but still for a lot of people he is one of their favourite players and brings back some really good memories.

Good luck in your retirement JPA

JPA retires

[N'ZMAV]

He's one of those 'could have been' sort of players. I enjoyed his goals in DOL's first season. Shame we rushed him back the following season, he never really hit top form again after that. A good pro - shame we never looked after him when he first signed, it could have been even better.

[Rotterdam]

One of my fav 'recent years' players. I met him once at a petrol station; a nice fella as well.
All the best JPA.

[N'ZMAV]

I saw him in Sainsburys in Selly Oak once. Strangely.

[Tom_Mc9?]

The quintessential 21st Century Aston Villa player. Not bad; not good.

[supertom]

One of my favourite post millennium players. Really nice guy and you could tell he loved playing here. I felt we let him go a little too soon. He played pretty well at the start of O Neill's reign with Moore and Gabby either side of him. As soon as O Neill switched to a 4-4-2, JPA became obsolete being as he was neither a pace player or a big target man. Ironically I think he'd have had a field day playing with Carew.

He was good in Gregory's last season, before being dropped when SGT came in (despite being our top scorer). I think had JG stayed till May, JPA would have score 20 goals in all comps at least.

His first season with O Leary was very good. There were also a few brief signs that he and Baros may have forged a good partnership, but they didn't get enough time together.

Really talented player but perhaps lacked a ruthless streak required at this level. Too nice. He had great technique it must be said. We didn't always play to his strengths with SGT, latter Dolly and then O Neill (when Moore got injured and Sutton came in) opting to hump the ball long to him, but it's not his game.

I really liked JPA. Almost but not quite. Still he scored over 60 goals for the club to be fair to him, and some absolute crackers too. He and Carew have been my favourite players since 00, with Benteke pushing close.

[Legion]

I liked him. Thanks for the memories, JPA.

[Tom_Mc9?]

I forgot to mention I liked him too. Offered a lot of hope and was also committed. Good luck to him.

[Jon Crofts]

Never forget the winner he scored against Chelsea in the Carling/Milk/League/Rumbelows Cup at Villa Park.

Saw him play for NY Red Bulls in 2009.  I never realised he banged in 23 goals in 2003/4 16 in the PL & 7 in LC.  Happy retirement JPA.

[Legion]

[FatSam]

Although he comes across as a thoroughly nice chap, and did alright with us, I think he was another instance of us failing to sign the final piece in the puzzle. I don’t mean that he wasn't the right kind of player, the problem in his case was that he took a long time to settle, and therefore wasn’t able to solve the immediate problem. By the time he did come good, we weren’t really challengers.

At River Plate he was playing with Saviola and Aimar, who according to www.transfermarkt.de transferred to European clubs for EUR35M and EUR21M respectively within half a season of Angel joining us for EUR14M.

[PaulWinch again]

I loved Angel and have really fond memories of his time at the club.

[brontebilly]

Bad injury killed whatever pace he had but brilliant in the air and and ace goal poacher. Combined well with Solano, balls to the back post for JPA to head back into the far corner.

[Matt C]

Did pretty well for us and a seemingly top bloke but another example of poor asset management on our part.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Impressive that he kept playing at a relatively high level until 39.