page_title: Nigel Reo-Coker
section_title: Aston Villa
hierarchical_section_title: Nigel Reo-Coker / Club career / Aston Villa
caption_attribution_description: English: John Carew and Nigel Reo-Coker have a wrestle... Picture by Gus Stephens
context_page_description: Nigel Shola Andre Reo-Coker is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. He is currently a free agent.
  Reo-Coker came through the youth team ranks at Wimbledon, and has previously played for West Ham United, Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers, Ipswich Town, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Chivas USA, Montreal Impact, Start and Milton Keynes Dons.
context_section_description: Reo-Coker joined Aston Villa on 5 July 2007 for a reported £8.5 million, signing a four-year contract. At the press conference following the signing, he spoke of being "hung out to dry" by his former club, West Ham United, and said that his reason for joining Villa was, "their aspiration to play in Europe; they have a talented squad and Martin O'Neill has told me what he aims to do and I believe we can achieve it." He scored his first goal for Villa in a 5–0 League Cup 2nd round victory over Wrexham on 28 August 2007. On 21 January 2008, Reo-Coker captained Aston Villa in the absence of regular captain Gareth Barry against Liverpool at Anfield. He scored his first Premier League goal for Aston Villa in a 2–1 win over Tottenham at White Hart Lane. He then scored again later that week to equalise for Villa in the UEFA Cup against Litex Lovech. Villa went on to win this match 3–1. During his time at Villa, Reo-Coker was known to operate as a right-back and right-winger occasionally when players who would usually play in those positions were unavailable.
  Reo-Coker captained Aston Villa in the latter stages of the 2009 Peace Cup, following an injury to teammate Stiliyan Petrov. This was the case in the final, as Villa were triumphant and Reo-Coker consequently lifted the trophy. He re-established himself as a regular starter in the Villa team following the departure of Gareth Barry. On 18 September 2009, he was involved in a training ground incident, described as a "strong verbal disagreement" with manager Martin O'Neill and dropped for the following day's match with Portsmouth. A few weeks later, Reo-Coker was recalled by O'Neill, having being called ahead of a match.
  Reo-Coker enjoyed a resurgence at the start of the 2010–11 season under new Villa manager Gérard Houllier and following news in October 2010 that captain Petrov would be out injured for two months, Houllier named him as captain until Petrov's return. On 27 May 2011, Aston Villa announced that Nigel Reo-Coker had left the club following his contract expiring. After being released, he would accuse the club's chief of not contacting him about his release.
caption: Reo-Coker (right) warming up for Aston Villa in 2009
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