Mourinho to inform Inter of his plan to join 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 San Siro.

Mourinho's spokesman Eladio Parames confirmed yesterday to the Italian media: "Yes, they (Mourinho and Moratti) will meet in Milan. If not in the next few hours, then tomorrow."

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 suggested Mourinho's agent Jorge Mendes was in the Spanish capital thrashing out the finer details of a deal while, in Italy, an inquest has already started into the impending departure of arguably the best manager of his generation.

Milan's mayor, Letizia Moratti – the sister-in-law of Massimo Moratti – has laid the blame squarely at the door of the Italian media.

She said to Gazzetta dello Sport: "I would like to appeal to journalists, help us to convince Mourinho to stay, more so because this is your fault.

"He wants to leave because in the rest of Europe the press is less critical."

Massimo Moratti appears resigned to losing Mourinho although he has ruled out the possibility of replacing him with former Inter manager Roberto Mancini, now at Manchester City.

Moratti told Sky Sport Italia: "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."

Mancini's former assistant at Inter and current Catania manager 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."

An open-minded Moratti stressed that he will consider veteran coaches, and those cutting their teeth in the profession.