Mourinho Set to Replace Ousted Mancini at Inter

Jose Mourinho is set to end his eight-month exile from football with the former Chelsea manager to be appointed at the Italian champions Internazionale, who finally parted company with Roberto Mancini last night.

The Inter president Massimo Moratti met with Mancini for talks yesterday and, despite the former Lazio manager having delivered three consecutive Serie A titles, duly agreed a parting of the ways with their working relationship having deteriorated steadily over the course of the season. The manager's agent, Giorgio de Giorgis, confirmed last night that "it is more or less over". Mancini will now be a strong candidate for the vacant manager's position at Mourinho's former club, Chelsea, though Roman Abramovich and his advisers are still considering their options ahead of an appointment.

Mourinho is understood to have agreed terms on a three-year deal at San Siro and, once installed, may attempt to lure Didier Drogba, Ricardo Carvalho and Frank Lampard to Italy. Chelsea will monitor the situation closely and, while they are resigned to losing Drogba this summer, will resist any attempt to prise the Portuguese center-half or Lampard away.

Abramovich, together with the director Eugene Tenenbaum and the adviser Eugene Shvidler, continues to deliberate how to proceed and will scrutinize Mancini's credentials now he is without a club. The Italian established himself as the most successful manager of the Nerazzurri over the last 30 years by winning three Scudetti, two Italian Cups and two Italian Super Cups in four years at the club.

Meanhile Avram Grant talked at length yesterday for the first time since his sacking as Chelsea manager, saying that he did not bear a grudge against the club and dismissing rumors linking him with Manchester City as conjecture. "It's speculation," he said. "I can't say anything at the moment. If there will be something we'll talk; at the moment nothing is happening." The Israeli agent Pini Zahavi is believed to be trying to find Grant a job.

Chelsea intend to meet with Avram Grant's coaching staff, Henk ten Cate and Steve Clarke, today to discuss the pair's future. Clarke has expressed a desire to go into management and is expected to leave the club having been a mainstay of the backroom team in recent years. Ten Cate, however, insisted yesterday that he had the backing of the chief executive, Peter Kenyon, and would be remaining at the club.