Mourinho wants Chelsea exit

The Independent, among other newspapers, reports that Jose Mourinho has told his agent, Jorge Mendes, that he is prepared to leave Chelsea and will listen to offers to manage other clubs at the end of the season. I wrote yesterday that 'If I was to make one football prediction now, it's that Mourinho will not be manager of Chelsea for the 2007/08 season. Real Madrid and the two Milan giants will be monitoring the situation very closely.' I stand by that statement.

The Indie also claims that Mourinho is in the middle of 'a fierce power struggle at Chelsea involving the running of the club and the signing of players. His unlikely ally is chief executive Peter Kenyon ­ who he has clashed with in the past ­ but they are believed to be pitted against Frank Arnesen, the club's director of youth development and scouting, and a powerful, but largely unknown, Russian contingent.'

I'd imagine that once Jose makes up his mind, it stays made. He's not for turning. Of course, he'll be more determined than ever to win a third straight title and preserve his Special One status.

Paddy Power already has a book on which club Mourinho will manage next:

Real Madrid 15-8fav
Inter Milan 9-2
Juventus 11-2
AC Milan 7-1
Barcelona 15-2
Porto 16-1
Seville 20-1
Bayern Munich 20-1
Valencia 20-1
Man Utd 25-1
Roma 33-1
Arsenal 50-1

With Fabio Capello struggling at the Bernabeu, Madrid are rightly favourites and would surely love to bring Mourinho to the Primera Liga, where he can really get up the nose of Barcelona.

Personally, I'd hate to see Jose go. As much as people slag him off, you can't argue that he's an entertaining bugger, and a talented manager to boot. English football will miss him if he moves on.