Villa resigned to Milner loss and other red-hot gossip

It looks as though Aston Villa are resigned to losing England midfielder James Milner. According to reports, the Villans have launched an £8m bid for Mbark Boussoufa of Anderlecht. Boussoufa is a similar player to Milner. Milner has been linked with a big-money move to Manchester United. Elsewhere, Inter Milan have launched a combined bid of £33m for Liverpool duo Javier Mascherano and Dirk Kuyt; Barcelona legend Hristo Stoichkov has branded Barca's Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic a "failure" and insists he will end up at Manchester City; Wigan have slapped a £15m price tag on Arsenal and Aston Villa target Hugo Rodallega; and Wolfsburg have entered the race to sign Germany midfielder Michael Ballack after he was released by Chelsea.