Reo-Coker waiting on offer

Reo-Coker: Waiting on talks

Nigel Reo-Coker's agent has denied claims that he has rejected a new contract offer from Aston Villa.

Local reports in Birmingham suggested that the two parties were in 'deadlock' over talks about Reo-Coker extending his stay at Villa Park.

But his agent Tony Finnigan has insisted that they have not held talks with Villa since last year, and they are waiting for the club to approach them.

Deadlock denial

"To suggest that talks are 'deadlocked' is just ridiculous and plain wrong," Finnigan told skysports.com.

"The last set of talks we had with Villa was in December and at the time, rightly so, they stated that all contract talks would be put on hold until their Premier League status was confirmed.

"Now we are respectfully waiting for the club to come back to us, but there is no getting away from the fact Nigel is out-of-contract at the end of the season.

"If Nigel does leave Villa, then he would be the biggest English Bosman of the summer and at the age of just 26 would be one of the most in-demand ever.

"That is just the facts of where we are at the moment, but Nigel has enjoyed playing under Gerard Houllier - that is true so we are open minded about the situation."

Reo-Coker has already been linked with a move abroad and skysports.com understands that a string of Serie A and La Liga clubs have been tracking him in recent weeks.

English clubs cannot make an official approach until the end of the season but if Villa have not been able to broker a new deal by then, a host of Premier League sides are likely to enter the bidding.