SPAIN: Jose out, Carlo in?

In a press conference earlier this evening, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has declared that manager Jose Mourinho and the club have come to an agreement to rescind his contract. Paris Saint-Germain coach Carlo Ancelotti is in line to replace him, but the newly-crowned Ligue 1 champions are reluctant to let him go.

At the end of the season, Mourinho will become a free agent which paves the way for Europa League winners Chelsea to name him as their new boss. Mourinho will take charge of Real Madrid’s final matches of the Primera Division season, away to Real Sociedad on 26th May and at home to Osasuna on 2nd June, after which he will depart the club.

At the press conference Perez stated: “The club and the manager agree that the timing is right to bring our relationship to an end. On behalf of the directors, I would like to thank Jose Mourinho for his hard work over the last three years.”

Perez also stated that Real Madrid’s presidential election will take place the day after Mourinho leaves the club, on Monday 3rd June. It is expected that Perez will be unopposed in the election, with no candidates having put themselves forward two weeks before the election is due to take place.

With Ancelotti in pole position to replace ‘The Special One’ in Madrid, PSG Club president Nasser Al Khelaifi is not happy about his head coach asking to depart and will refuse to let him leave.

The PSG president said: “Yes, we had discussions, he asked to depart for Real Madrid. I said it is not possible because he has a contract for one year more, so that is our decision. It is his problem, it is not our problem. We have offered him another year more on his contract as well as the one he has. When you have a contract, everyone is normally obliged to honour that.”

Ancelotti admitted his interest in the Real job at the Ligue 1 awards evening on Sunday night. The Italian said: “Real Madrid is a possibility but I have a year left on my contract here. It is the club who will decide. We have to decide together. My decision is to leave the club but it is not easy because I have had a very good relationship with everyone here. It is not the time to explain the reason why I wish to leave the club, and perhaps I will never explain it.”

The news of Mourinho’s release will music to the ears of Chelsea Football Club and it’s fans who are longing for a return of the Portuguese manager.

Mourinho, 50, is free to join any club he wishes after 2nd June as Perez reiterated in the statement: “Nobody’s been sacked, it’s a mutual agreement.”

In last week’s Copa del Rey final defeat by neighbours Atletico Madrid, Mourinho was sent from the dugout for protesting a referee’s decision while, in April, his side were ruthlessly outclassed by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. Following that exit, talking to ITV Sport, he hinted at a return to Chelsea.

He said: “I know in England I am loved. I know I am loved by some clubs, especially one.”

Mourinho won two consecutive Barclays Premier League championships during his three-year tenure at the Blues also lifting the FA Cup once and twice winners of the League Cup.

During his spell at Chelsea, which ended in September 2007, Mourinho won 124 of his 185 games in charge – including a sixty-game unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge in the league before surprisingly leaving the club.

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