Nigel Reo Coker

Former West Ham and Aston Villa midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker has joined the list of footballers who have picked up freak injuries off the pitch.

The now Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder is said to have suffered a ‘nasty gash’ to his face after tripping over a bike rack in the Canadian City, forcing him to miss his team’s match against Houston Dynamo this coming weekend.

Billy McBingo wrote:I liked him as a player, and he played well in his last season.

Problem was that signings like him are exactly the reason that we have made such a big loss on transfers over the past few years. We paid £8.5million for him, £40K per week and then he went on a free. Of course, that is more the management's fault than Nigel's himself. I'd really have thought he'd have done better after leaving us. He was certainly good enough to have a career at the lower level or even midtable in the Premiership.

Farrell_10 wrote:I always thought he was worth an England call, did he ever get one?

Trotters wrote:I'm sure he could have made a decent career in a grim, lower division town somewhere.

Or go to Canada if he's got his flight, accommodation and spending money sorted.

Firestarter wrote:And, of course, he chinned MON at Bodymoor.

Respect.

Firestarter wrote:Yep. There was a 'disagreement' about tactics resulting in NRC decking Pubehead.

A report claims Nigel Reo-Coker will be out of Vancouver as early as May 25 and this could open up a door for FC Dallas to make a deal to increase the quality of their midfield.

Reo-Coker has spent the majority of his career in the English football system, including many years in the EPL, playing for the likes of West Ham, Bolton, Aston Villa and Ipswich Town. He has the traits needed to be a quality MLS player and in my mind he is the poor man's Yaya Toure. Nigel will sit back when needed, but he also has quality and pace to get forward when the opportunity presents itself.

Reo-Coker, English, is naturally a defensive midfielder and one would initially think that FCD already have several players in that position with Luccin, Thomas, Ulloa, Moffat, captain Andrew Jacobson and Michel on occasion, but the only two able to hold onto a spot thus far are Michel and Thomas. AJ and Moffat have been rather poor thus far in the season and Ulloa has done well, but is forced to play a simple one-two touch game with his abilities.

This opens the door for FCD to pursue Reo-Coker to improve the quality of depth Dallas will have at this position. AJ and Moffat would likely be the first choices for a trade, but it would likely have to involve a large sum of allocation money for Vancouver to be interested.

Of course these are just rumors as it stands, but Reo-Coker has been out of favor since suffering a concussion after tripping over a bike rack and only playing one minute of MLS action since then.

Reo-Coker has an extremely salary cap heavy ($400k base salary), but he is not labeled as a designated player meaning it is possible for FCD to acquire him (FCD currently hold the maximum 3 designated players.) This would force Dallas to make some moves in order to bring him in, but this could be a move that is very beneficial for Dallas going forward as the center midfield has been an issue for the past three and a half seasons and with FCD's best option, Hendry Thomas, sidelined for 6-8 weeks.

All in all, this would be difficult for the Dallas front office to pull off, but it would be an interesting, and in my opinion beneficial, move for FCD to make. Dan Hunt and Fernando Clavijo would definitely be working extra hours in the office if they were to pull this one off.

I personally would love to see this move happen for Dallas and I believe it would improve the midfield greatly. He would make an immediate impact and break into the starting XI quickly to partner with either Michel or Victor Ulloa. Andrew Jacobson, Adam Moffat and Peter Luccin have not solved any issues this season for FCD and actually created more problems with their consistent injuries. I believe it is time to bring in Reo-Coker and dump AJ, Luccin and Moffat therefore making it so we have no weak options in the midfield. FCD currently have too many defensive mids, but with the news coming out with Hendry Thomas' injury it almost becomes a necessity. Also, I would like to add that it would probably not add a CDM to the roster, as almost certainly at least one of Moffat, Luccin, or Jacobson would have to move on in order for this deal to come to fruition.