 Tuesday, 5th Jul 2011 23:18 Town are reported to have held talks with released Aston Villa midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker. The 27-year-old left Villa at the end of last season having spent four years with the Midlanders. Reo-Coker was born in Thornton Heath and started his career with the old Wimbledon, making his senior debut in the 2002/03 season. His displays for the Dons impressed West Ham who signed him for £500,000 in January 2004. After three and a half not always happy years at Upton Park, during which time he captained the side under Alan Pardew, the former England U21 skipper joined Aston Villa for £8.5 million in July 2007 having asked for a transfer. Reo-Coker’s Villa career looked to be serious jeopardy in 2009 when he was involved in a training ground bust-up with manager Martin O’Neill, but he was restored to the side under Gerard Houllier and was even captain for a while after regular skipper Stiliyan Petrov picked up a knock. However, with his contract up this summer, he was released at the end of the campaign. Capped 23 times at U21 level, scoring once, Reo-Coker last year rejected the international advances of Sierra Leone, the country of his doctor father’s birth and where he lived for six years as a child. Reo-Coker, who TWTD Message Board rumours claimed to have been at Portman Road with team-mate John Carew early in the summer, was recently linked with West Brom but over the weekend that switch was reported to have broken down. The midfielder is unlikely to be short on offers from both Premier League and Championship clubs and, like other out-of-contract players, is probably weighing up his options. Town target Lee Bowyer is almost certainly in a similar position with Leeds and Derby also both interested but with talks regarding a move to Portman Road understood to have made progress this week with the completion of a deal prior to next week's pre-season tour of Holland not out of the question. Elsewhere, former Blue Ian Westlake is on trial with NASL side the Montreal Impact. Westlake, 27, left Wycombe Wanderers after an injury-hit spell at the end of the season. Meanwhile, reported Town target David Nugent has signed a three-year deal with Leicester having been out of contract at Portsmouth, while Sheffield United are claimed to have slapped a £4 million price tag on defender Matt Lowton, who is believed to be interesting the Blues and Blackpool.
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