Nigel Reo-Coker’s future lies away from Villa after he was one of 10 players released by the club today along with Robert Pires and John Carew.

Reo-Coker joined Villa from West Ham for a fee in the region £8.5million in July 2007 and manager Gerard Houllier had hoped to persuade the former England under-21 captain to remain at Villa after an impressive season.

Houllier had even handed captaincy to the 27-year-old midfielder on a few occasions this season, but Reo-Coker refused to sign a new contract at the claret and opted to seek a move to pastures new.

German champions Borussia Dortmund are among a host of clubs chasing Reo-Coker, as they seek a midfield reinforcements following the depature of Nuri Sahin to Real Madrid.

Veteran midfielder Pires, who was Houllier’s first signing when he joined on a free transfer in November, has also left the club.

The 37-year-old former Arsenal man struggled to cope with the pace of the Premier League and only made 12 appearances, scoring one goal in the FA Cup win over Blackburn.

Pires’ future could well be in the Major Soccer League, after revealing that former Gunners team-mate Thierry Henry had been in touch about a move to the United States.

Norwegian striker John Carew, who spent the second half of the season on loan at Stoke City, is the other high-profile name on the list of departures.

Carew, 31, signed for Villa in January 2007 as part of the deal which saw Milan Baros move to Lyon but fell out of favour with Houllier, as his first-team chances became limited following the arrival of record signing Darren Bent.

Moustapha Salifou has also been shown the exit door after making just four appearances for the club since his arrival in 2007 while reserve team players Isaiah Osbourne, Harry Forrester, Arsenio Halfhuid, Durrell Berry, Ellis Deeney and Calum Flanagan have also left the club.

But assistant boss Gary McAllister admitted the club will do everything they can to help those players released to find new clubs.

He said: “It’s been very competitive here, we’ve got a lot of players and there’s always going to be people pushed out.

“We’ll do everything we possibly can to help them move on with their lives and their careers.

“Anything they need with a CV because we can’t fault their effort and the type of people they are. So anything we can do for them, we’ll gladly do it.

“Gerard’s a big fan of young players so we’re very aware of not blocking the way for these guys.

“We want to send a message to them that we’ll not be bringing all these players in to block and cram up the natural progression of some of these youngsters, because we’ve got big expectations for them.”