Aston Villa have tabled a bid for Anderlecht star Mbark Boussoufa.

Villa have started planning for life without James Milner by offering Anderlecht £8million for Boussoufa.

Milner has been linked with Chelsea and Manchester rivals City and United after an impressive season for Villa.

Manager Martin O'Neill is reluctant to sell the England winger but a big offer would be hard to turn down and, according to Het Laalste Nieuws, Boussoufa has already been lined up as a replacement.

The 25-year-old, who started his career at the Ajax academy and spent three years at Chelsea as a teenager, was recently named the best player in Belgium for the second year running.