Claudio Ranieri’s agent said on Monday the ousted Chelsea manager wants to stay in the English Premiership.
”Claudio loves England and if it’s possible for him to stay here then he will,” Jon Smith told BBC Radio Five Live after Chelsea had confirmed the worst-kept secret in English football.
Smith’s remarks are likely to revive speculation linking Ranieri with a move to Chelsea’s managerless London rivals Tottenham.
Jose Mourinho, who guided FC Porto to Champions League glory last week, is expected in London this week to sign a deal to take over from Ranieri at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho is reported to have been offered a £16-million, four-year deal.
Chelsea ended Ranieri’s near four-year spell in charge with a terse statement.
”Chelsea Football Club today announced that Claudio Ranieri is to leave the club.”
A club spokesperson added: ”We would like to wish Claudio all the best for the future. We are discussing the exact terms of his departure with him and his representatives.”
However, that last sentence prompted an angry response from former Chelsea chairperson Ken Bates, who brought Italian Ranieri to the west London club as replacement for compatriot Gianluca Vialli in September 2000.
Bates said there was nothing to discuss.
”The way they have treated Claudio Ranieri this season has been an absolute disgrace,” he told Sky Sports TV.
”The least they can do now is not to try to wriggle out of the terms of his contract and pay him the full £6-million now,” Bates added.
Ranieri signed a five-year deal with Chelsea in 2002.
During his time at the club, Ranieri — nicknamed the Tinkerman for his habit of frequently changing his starting line-up — steadily improved Chelsea’s league position.
This season they finished runners-up to Arsenal, Chelsea’s best placing since they won the old First Division title for the only time in their history way back in 1955, and also reached the Champions League semifinals.
But the writing was on the wall for 52-year-old former Atletico Madrid coach Ranieri when Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, brought in from Manchester United, said a trophyless season would be a ”failure”.
Ranieri appeared to be on borrowed time at Stamford Bridge when Bates sold the club in pre-season to Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich.
There then followed a spending spree the likes of which English football had never seen with Abramovich’s wealth resulting in Chelsea laying out £130-million on new players.
However, how many of these signings were actually carried out at Ranieri’s behest rather than merely presented to him as done deals was never completely clear.
Almost as soon as Abramovich took over there was speculation linking England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson to the Chelsea job.
That intensified when in March this year Britain’s Sun newspaper published photographs of Eriksson meeting Kenyon.
Ranieri, whose increasing fondness for a memorable phrase endeared him to fans of all teams, subsequently said he was a ”dead man walking”.
But while Arsenal, in an unbeaten league season, ran away with the Premiership, there was always a chance Ranieri might stay at Chelsea if they won the Champions League.
However, Ranieri’s tactical blunder saw him bring on striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in place of defender Mario Melchiot just after Monaco had been reduced to 10 men in the first leg of the semifinal with the score at 1-1.
Chelsea then conceded two late goals and went into the second leg 3-1 down before losing 5-3 on aggregate, having beaten Arsenal in the quarterfinals.
”It’s my fault,” Ranieri admitted after the first leg. ”We completely lost the plot but I was sure it was the best thing for the team.” — Sapa-AFP