City reopen pursuit of Villa star and other red-hot gossip

Manchester City are set to use Stephen Ireland as part of a player-plus-cash bid to persuade Aston Villa to sell young England international midfielder James Milner. According to reports, the wealthy Blues are prepared to offer Villa a package of £27.5m which includes Ireland, a player who was voted City’s player of the season two seasons ago. Elsewhere, Blackburn Rovers are set to make a shock move for Aston Villa midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker; Juventus midfielder Christian Poulson is on the verge of a switch to Liverpool, according to his agent; Stoke are ready to offload Turkish midfielder star Tuncay to Blackburn to help fund a £10m pursuit of Nice forward Loic Remy; and Chelsea will let Ashley Cole move to Real Madrid once they have wrapped up a £16m deal for Benfica left-back Fabio Coentrao.