OWEN Coyle is waiting on Blackburn Rovers owners Venky’s to give him the green light to hand a permanent contract to Wes Brown – as he prepares for more talks with Ben Marshall.

Coyle wanted to sign Brown, who has been training with Rovers since his release from Sunderland in the summer, in time for tonight’s EFL Cup third-round clash with Leeds United.

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The Rovers boss will be without the cup-tied Tommie Hoban and Derrick Williams and the injured Charlie Mulgrew, Adam Henley and Elliott Ward for the trip to Elland Road.

And, with Gordon Greer nursing the knock which forced him off in Saturday’s 4-2 league win at home to Rotherham United, that means Coyle’s defensive options will be stretched this evening.

Coyle had hoped a deal for Brown would have been in place before the registration deadline to face Leeds.

But he is still determined to get the go-ahead from Venky’s to bring in the highly decorated defender who has proved his fitness by playing three successive matches for the club’s development side.

Coyle said: “Wes is fit and ready to play and I’d love to have him for Tuesday night.

“I’ve been trying to get it over the line. As soon as I get the okay, that green light from the owners, to get it over the line, I will pursue that one vigorously. That’s where we’re at the moment.

“Wes’ representative has spoken to me, and outlined what it would be, and I’ve let the owners be aware of that.

“The proposal has been sent and it’s now just waiting for a yes or no to that.”

Coyle has also confirmed he will hold fresh contract negotiations with Marshall after tonight’s tie.

The winger is in the final year of his current deal and, after scoring his first goal of the season in the win over Rotherham, he restated his happiness at the club.

“I think there will be further dialogue on that this week,” said Coyle at his press conference yesterday.

“I spoke to Ben on Friday before the game and said we’ll have more a chat this week and that there’ll be a little update in respect of trying to move that forward.

“Ben will sit down with his representative and decide where we go from there but, to be fair to the club, they have improved that offer and we’ll see where we get to later in the week.”

Marshall, who is expected to be rested this evening, said on Saturday: “We’re just trying to get something sorted.

“There’s a lot of things come out saying I wanted to leave and this and that but I never have. I’ve just got on with it.

“I’ve got to do what’s best for me as well as the football club. Hopefully we can come to some sort of an agreement and I can get my head down and push on.

“I’m happy where I am. I’m comfortable. People probably think in the background everyone’s heads are down. But it’s not. It’s completely different. Everyone’s buzzing about.

“We all just want to do well. We don’t want to fail. It’s down to us to dig in and get up there (the league).”

Coyle added after the match: “Ben is going into the last year of his contract and there was a lot speculation about his future. It wasn’t helping him at the start of the season.

“But we sat down, had a good chat, and I think he’s been really tuned in, focused and bringing a lot to the team.

“It was nice for him to get his reward with a wonderful goal.”