Ranieri wants Wednesday to be D-day

Claudio Ranieri wants to learn on Wednesday whether or not he will still be at Stamford Bridge next season.

The Chelsea manager is then due to meet the club’s chief executive, Peter Kenyon, in what is expected to be a make-or-break showdown.

Ranieri wants to stay at the club he “loves” and revealed he would be prepared to take on a “director of football” type of role at Stamford Bridge - as long as he had a say in selecting the coach to replace him. But he wants to leave Wednesday’s meeting knowing exactly where he stands.

“I want a conclusion because I think it is important to close all the speculation,” Ranieri told BBC 5 Live.

“I love my job a lot because I feel good at Chelsea and I would love to stay - I don’t know what is in Peter’s mind, but I want to stay.

“If a compromise was speaking about taking responsibility for the academy and everything then yes, I can think about this kind of job.

“But I would need a man I know very well because if I am responsible for everything I have to put my man there.

“It is difficult to change after 52 years. I am used to working my way and I follow my way.”

Ranieri’s agent, Jon Smith, believes Chelsea should clarify Ranieri’s position before the semi-finals of the Champions League, which start a week on Tuesday with the club’s first leg in Monaco.

“Both sides need to clarify their position because it has been so public,” said Smith.

“We’d like it done this week because next week is Champions League week and Claudio wouldn’t want to be under a cloud running into that semi-final.

“I met with Peter Kenyon last week and we said to each other that circumstances had overtaken us all and we need to sit down and make this come to a successful conclusion, one way or another, and that is what we are working towards.

“I asked Peter if Chelsea wanted to keep Claudio and there wasn’t a straight answer. There are issues he wishes to discuss and we agreed it would be better to discuss those now, in a quieter place, between him and Claudio – and that is what is going to happen this week.

“They are Chelsea issues. I don’t think they are anything cataclysmic, they have a way of running their club and they want to see if Claudio can be part of that mindset.

“By the same token, Claudio has a way of doing things which he has done over the last few years, and he want to make sure his position is managed in that way. They are footballing issues, it is nothing to do with football at all.

“Sir Alex Ferguson took seven years to build a successful Manchester United team and Claudio has done pretty well in seven months. I don’t know where the story ends, but hopefully it will not end.”

Smith added that other top European clubs had already made approaches for Ranieri’s services, although as yet he has disregarded them because he is manager of Chelsea.

“A handful of ’A clubs’ around Europe have approached us but we have told them he is manager of Chelsea and there is nothing else we can say at the moment,” said Smith.

“If he is going to be manager of Chelsea then great, but if not we want to bring this matter to a head so that on Claudio’s side we are able to talk to the other clubs.

“I am going on holiday with my family for a few days today and I hope to cut that short and come back and talk about a new contract with Peter.”