Darius Vassell is running scared. Not on the football field, where he continues to thrive since he burst on to the club and then international scenes last season, but off it, where he is desperately trying to maintain a low profile. An extrovert with the ball at his feet, the 22-year-old prefers to go unnoticed the rest of the time. Unsurprisingly, his wish is falling on deaf ears.

The Aston Villa faithful have not had much to cheer about over the last few inconsistent seasons. No wonder, then, that the sight of a local lad setting the football world alight has caught the public's imagination. "It's tough, you know," Vassell sighs, "because everybody recognises me in the street now. It's flattering, but I'm not one for publicity.

"The other day, someone followed me in the car. I guess they wanted to know where I lived or something. I had to speed through the streets to get away, which was odd really. It wasn't that long ago that I was taking the bus around town."

Vassell is not a typical footballer, let alone your arche- typal centre-forward. His favoured lifestyle is one of calm and quiet, away from the spotlight, while his policy on the pitch is to let his feet do the talking. Such self-restraint has even pushed his manager at Villa, Graham Taylor, to demand that he be more bullish.

"I think people have to realise that a lot has happened to Darius in the last few months," the former England manager says, "but, equally, Darius has to be aware that this is what goes on when you play at international level. You have to accept that there is going to be more interest in you, and you have to adjust your lifestyle. Darius is basically a quiet lad, who would like to be able to go out on his own without anyone recognising him, but that simply isn't going to happen any more. And it's the same on the pitch: he doesn't quite fit into the normal striker profile. It's a little bit unusual, because he doesn't ever rant or rave. Perhaps he should."

Vassell, though, is unmoved by Taylor's pleas. The young England striker insists that he is a bubbly character when with his close friends and family, but deliberately reserved when in his professional footballer's role. "A lot of people think that I'm too quiet and stuff," he says, "but the ones who really know me understand that I'm still trying to learn as much as possible. I like to stand back and watch other strikers play, to pick up on the little things they do."

Vassell can remember spending hours sitting on the sidelines observing his heroes, Dwight Yorke and Dalian Atkinson, training. "I love taking on new information," he says. "I'm not afraid to say that I'm still learning, and I think that's OK. Perhaps I could be a little more assertive, but I'm not worrying about it. I'm certainly not going to force myself to be more vocal. When I'm on the pitch, I say what has to be said. Nothing else."

It seems a little harsh to be picking on Vassell's supposed weaknesses when the player has barely had time to settle at the top table of football. Hard as it is to believe, particularly when you consider how much is expected of him in a chronically inconsistent Aston Villa side these days, Vassell has only one full season of Premiership football behind him.

More frightening still, he only made his international debut in an away friendly in Holland in February, yet went to the World Cup as a member of Sven Goran Eriksson's 23-man squad. Then again, any striker who scored the type of stunning scissor-kick volley he did to earn England a 1-1 draw in the Amsterdam ArenA would surely have booked their seat on the plane.

In Vassell parlance, the strike is known simply as that goal, although he rarely talks or thinks about it these days. Reminiscing and sitting on laurels is simply not his style.

"Obviously, that was a special night," he says, "and I want more of that, thank you very much. But you can't just expect it to happen. I need to start scoring some goals for Aston Villa first [he has found the net only once so far this season], and then maybe the good times will come with England, too. I believe in myself, but I have to go out on the pitch knowing I'm going to score, not just thinking that I might. I need to be sure."

Leading the opposition attack at Villa Park today will be a young striker and fellow England contender who has never doubted his own ability, Leeds United's Alan Smith. Both players grew up supporting the clubs they now play for, and both have caught the eye while representing their country in recent games. Both, though, are completely different characters. While Vassell is quiet, Smith is anything but. And while Vassell shies away from confrontation, Smith thrives on it.

Fuse the two, and you would probably have the perfect centre-forward; play them together, and you could have a potent attacking force for England in the future. "Seeing Alan play," Vassell says, "he reminds me a lot of Alan Shearer, who was the master in that role. I would love to be alongside someone like that because I think we would get the best out of each other. It might not happen for England against Slovakia on Saturday, but yeah, that could well turn out to be a good partnership." Michael Owen might have something to say about that, of course.

Having been there himself only a few months ago, how does Vassell feel about Smith being the new kid on the block? "I'm not worried about it," he insists. "On the contrary. From an England point of view, it's great, because the more young players we have joining the squad, the more chance we have of being successful in the future. People say that it's going to make my job of getting into the team tougher, but I don't think that's true. It's up to me whether or not Sven picks me. I'm the one who has to play well."

And with that Vassell was off home. Prepared, as he has grudgingly learned to be, for the odd car chase along the way.