"The last two years were wasted ones," he said. "I feel as if I have been in the deep freeze for all that time. I came close to leaving in the summer - very close. I wasn't getting any opportunities.
"All I wanted was to enjoy my game. That's what it is all about - when you are happy, you play well. I don't want to say what clubs were interested but there was a chance I could have left." Claudio Ranieri is a long-time admirer and the Chelsea coach was linked with the Colombian striker last season. The arrival of Roman Abramovich, however, means Ranieri is now able to shop at the exclusive end of the market.
Tangible evidence of O'Leary's effect on Angel comes from the fact the striker has already scored six goals to double last season's tally. The total includes his first ever hat-trick for Villa and, although it came against Wycombe in the Carling Cup on Tuesday, Angel refuses to devalue either it or his team's performance.
"The win showed that we are capable of applying ourselves," he said. "We have the commitment and the attitude to play these games the same as Premiership ones.
"Provided that we can approach all our matches with the same attitude and that same sort of mentality, then there's no reason why we can't be successful."
Tomorrow they have an early chance to test their mettle against Chelsea, a side for which Angel is full of admiration.
"What's happened there is good for the game in England. Although I have not been in the country that long, even I felt the Championship was becoming a bit boring because only two clubs - Arsenal and Manchester United - were involved.
"Chelsea's signings are also good for people like me. I came to England because I wanted to play against the best players and now Chelsea, as well as Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool, are signing them."
Angel has already played against the Gunners and Liverpool this season and was encouraged by Villa's displays, even though their efforts yielded just one point.
"People thought we would struggle against them because they are expected to challenge for the title and qualify for the Champions League, but we did well," he said.
"Now we need to convert those good performances against the top teams into wins and doing that at Chelsea would be a great start."
Meanwhile, manager O'Leary, who was strangely linked with the Tottenham job this week, says he has high hopes of teenager Peter Whittingham, who scored on Tuesday. O'Leary said: "I've got a good feeling about this lad."
