The agent of Marlon Harewood, the Aston Villa striker, has admitted that his client would relish a move to fellow Premier League side Hull City.

After a long and very public search new strikers, The Tigers now appear to have focused their gaze on Harewood.

Harewood, who arrived at Villa Park in July 2007, has gradually slipped further and further down Martin O’Neill’s pecking order over the last year, so much so that even inexperienced teenager Nathan Delfouneso appears to be ahead of him in the manager’s short-term plans.

The 29-year-old made just six Premier League appearances, all as a substitute, for Villa last season and was loaned out to Wolverhampton Wanderers in April.

It is clear that his future lies away from Villa Park and now his representative, Phil Sproson, has admitted that the KC Stadium would be a desirable destination for Harewood.

Sproson said: “Marlon would certainly jump at the chance to join Hull City and the club knows that. Hull City know where we are and know Marlon’s situation.

“I have spoken to (Hull manager) Phil Brown recently and he said the situation was that Hull were looking at a couple of players and were assessing their options.”

Hull are also hoping to unveil Harewood’s former West Ham United team-mate, Bobby Zamora, today, giving the unwanted Villa man extra reason to want to head to Humberside.

“Marlon and Bobby played together at West Ham, they know each other very well and are friends, so he would love to play alongside him again,” added Sproson.

Meanwhile another Villa player Nigel Reo-Coker, also believed to be unhappy with his current situation, is believed to be attracting interest from Sunderland manager Steve Bruce.

Having failed in his attempts to sign Lee Cattermole from former club Wigan Athletic, Bruce is now hoping that Reo-Coker will help firm up his midfield.

A fee of £6 million was offered, and rejected, for Cattermole and that is reported to be the same fee that Sunderland are prepared to pay for 25-year-old Reo-Coker.

Elsewhere O’Neill’s plans to strengthen his own squad looked to have received a knock back after Portsmouth revealed their determination to keep hold of centre-back Sylvain Distin.

Pompey, fresh from appointing Paul Hart as their permanent manager, confirmed that they had rejected an undisclosed offer from an unnamed club for the French defender.

The south-coast club’s chief executive, Peter Storrie, has now made it clear where, in their eyes, Distin’s future lies.

“We’ve only ever had one bid for Sylvain which we turned down,” said Storrie. “We don’t want to sell him and we’re not interested in any bids for him.

“We want players to stay and any interest in him is unwelcome.”