Mourinho to meet Moratti

JOSE MOURINHO is expected to officially inform Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti today of his intention to join Real Madrid.

Mourinho is contracted to the Nerazzurri until June 2012 but can exercise a clause in his deal to depart this summer.

And his unease with the Italian game plus his desire to seek a new challenge after leading Inter to a domestic double as well as the Champions League title will spell the end of a hugely successful spell at the San Siro.

Mourinho’s spokesman Eladio Parames confirmed to the Italian media yesterday: “Yes, they (Mourinho and Moratti) will meet in Milan.

“If not in the next few hours, then tomorrow.”

Moratti said: “There’s always hope but we have to respect the wish of a person who already thinks his task has already expired.”

Mourinho admitted after Saturday’s defeat of Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in Madrid that he was keen to fill a post at the Bernabeu still occupied by Manuel Pellegrini.

Reports in Spain yesterday suggested Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes was in Madrid thrashing out the finer details of a deal while, in Italy, an inquest has already started into the impending departure of the Special One.

Milan’s mayor, Letizia Moratti – the sister-in-law of Massimo – has laid the blame squarely at the door of the Italian media. She said: “He wants to leave because in the rest of Europe the press is less critical.”

It was put to Massimo Moratti that Mourinho gave an interview to Portuguese television in which he said he already considered himself as the new Real Madrid coach.

“I don’t know what he could have said or where he spoke,” Moratti said.

“Now I prefer to have a personal meeting rather than having others mediate. It will take place in the next few days.”

Moratti has ruled out the possibility of replacing Mourinho with former Inter boss Roberto Mancini, now at Manchester City.

Mancini, who guided Inter to three consecutive Scudetti before being dismissed in the summer of 2008 and replaced by Mourinho, led City to a fifth-place finish in the Barclays Premier League six months after taking over at Eastlands. When asked about how he intended to fill the post should Mourinho depart, Moratti said: “I thought about it this morning.

“He (Mancini) is the only one I didn’t think of due to the fact that we have already had him and he is part of our history.

“I believe he is happy in England, that he likes living in England and hence, to bring him back in this difficult situation would be offensive.”

Mancini’s former assistant at Inter and current Catania boss Sinisa Mihajlovic is among the leading candidates to take over.

Moratti said: “Mihajlovic certainly has character and is a fast learner.

“We have a very good rapport with him but that doesn’t mean that he could be the one chosen even though from a personal standpoint, it would be a choice I would like to make.

“Honestly, I have not decided yet.”

The new man’s first task will be to keep the current squad intact.

Saturday’s hero Diego Milito – the Argentina international grabbed both goals to sink Bayern – has already been linked with a move to Madrid to link up again with Mourinho.

But Moratti insisted Milito would be staying in Milan.

“I only say one thing, there’s a difference between Milito and our coach, Mourinho,” Moratti said.

“Mourinho has a clause in his contract by which if the clause is exercised, he can leave. However, Milito doesn’t and hence, the discussion is over.”