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The club registered a tentative interest in the ex-England international earlier in the summer, but it seems they were put off making a bid for the veteran by his wage demands and his desire to move into coaching.
Coppell revealed that the club had talks with Keown with a view to signing him, but things never progressed from there.
"We did speak with Martin. It was all down to timing, if Martin had been more easily available earlier in the summer we may have gone for it," he said, speaking to the official site.
"We signed Ibrahima Sonko, we looked at the tight-knit nature of our squad and the time we've been together in pre-season, and we knew Martin was perhaps always intended for Leicester but we did speak, I'll not deny that."
Meanwhile, despite the elabourate 'we've got Sonko so we didn't want Keown anyway' statements, Coppell told the Evening Post that he is still on the look out for new defenders.
With Steve Brown reportedly set to quit the game through injury, the Royals have just Sonko, Williams and Ingimarsson to play in the centre of defence, and very little cover in the full back positions.
Although the Royals have spoken of bringing the likes of Ahmet Rifat and Peter Castle into the first team this season, it seems that Coppell would rather bring another player in - possibly on loan.
"Realistically I would say we need another defender because we have only six senior defenders and that's not enough," admitted the Reading boss.
"We have not explored the possibility of a loan deal yet. When we get back (from our pre season tour of Sweden) it is something we will look at in terms of Premiership players. That can be the difference between success and failure."