New midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker was close to joining Monaco before signing a three-month deal with the Blues last weekend, manager Paul Jewell has revealed. The 28-year-old, pictured with fellow new addition Stephen Henderson and chief executive Simon Clegg, looks set to make his Town debut at Hull on Saturday.
Jewell says he’s been working on landing the ex-Bolton, Aston Villa, West Ham and Wimbledon man for some time: "With Nigel Reo-Coker, we’ve been trying to get him for a while.
"He had the chance to go to Monaco. Monaco or Ipswich, who wants to live in Monaco when you can go and play for Ipswich?
"It took its time and we did really, really well to keep that quiet and we’re delighted that that came off.
"There were bigger clubs than Ipswich in for him. I don’t what happened, I know Monaco were the latest ones.
"We had to bide our time a little bit and hopefully we’ve got him at a good age and at a good time when he’s hungry."
He says that as is the case with loanee Danny Higginbotham, if Reo-Coker does well then he hopes the deal can be extended: "He’s come in short-term, but we’ve had go short-term to get him. Come January, if things go well, we’re hoping to sign him.
"We’d like to keep him, we’d like to keep Danny. We’re looking at extending Danny’s loan until the end of December with a view to a permanent.
"Richie Wellens is a little bit different because he’s come here to get games, but we like Richie, we like what he brings. We tried to buy him in the summer. I actually tried to get him last year before he got injured.
"It’s not as if with these players we’ve just thought ‘we’ll take them’, they’re all players that I’ve admired.”
Returning to Reo-Coker, the Town boss says he’s been a fan since he was at his first club: "He brings in experience, hunger, desire, he’s captained every team he’s played for, West Ham in a cup final. We’re really pleased to have him.
"I remember when I was at Wigan he was a young captain at Wimbledon in the referee’s room taking in the teamsheet and showing great maturity. He’s got good experience and he knows what the game’s about.”
Photo: ITFC