Ángel started playing professional soccer at Atlético Nacional in his home city of Medellín, Colombia. Ángel was sold to River Plate, Argentina, where he was considered one of the best players.
Ángel was Aston Villa's record signing from Argentinian side River Plate at £9.5 million, an increase of £2.5 million on the previous record, set by Stan Collymore. He was reportedly Villa's highest earner on £40,000 per week. After an indifferent start to his Aston Villa career, he settled down and started to produce the form that persuaded Doug Ellis to shell out the massive transfer fee. He was the club's top scorer in the 2003-04 season with 16 goals in the FA Premier League, but slipped to 7 goals in 2004-05.
Since the departure of Darius Vassell to Manchester City the summer of 2005, Ángel has been heaped with pressure to score more goals. In August 2005, Milan Baroš was brought in however, in an attempt to take off some of the burden. However, Baroš seemed to find scoring as difficult as Ángel, and was sold to Olympique Lyonnais in the January 2007 transfer window. Despite early promise, Angel later fell out-of-favour with manager David O'Leary, and spent most of the season either as a substitute or watching from the stands.
Martin O'Neill's appointment as Villa manager has resulted in a huge turnaround in Ángel's Villa career. He is now first choice striker again and is rewarding his manager with goals.
For Colombia, Ángel has appeared over 30 times, averaging a ratio of nearly a goal every 3 games. For Villa he averages a goal every 3rd game.
Here is Ángel's club history:
| Senior clubs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1993-97 1997-00 2000- | Atlético Nacional de Medellín River Plate Aston Villa | 57 (9) 91 (45) 175 (44) |
Here is Ángel's national team history:
| National team | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1996- | Colombia | 33 (9) |
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