Jose Mourinho wants to come back to England

One of English football's most colourful characters of recent years, Jose Mourinho, the Portuguese manager of Chelsea from 2004 until he was fired by the club's owner Roman Abramovich in 2007, has said that he wants to come back to England once his current stint at Inter Milan has run its course.

And he isn't interested in returning for just for a short spell: he wants to come back for the long haul, to "create something deeper", more in the style of Arsene Wenger's 13 years with Arsenal or - perhaps more pertinent - Sir Alex Ferguson's two decades at Manchester United.

"I love Inter and would love to build for the future here," he told the Times. "But Italy is not the country for this England is the country. And my football is English football."

Despite his sometimes arrogant demeanour - he awarded himself the nickname 'the special one' the moment he arrived at Stamford Bridge - he was generally liked by football fans and especially by the football press.

So who would be in the market for Mourinho? His CV is awesome: he made Porto champions of Portugal and of Europe; in only three seasons at Chelsea he won the Premier League twice, the Carling Cup twice and the FA Cup once; and Inter are currently leading Serie A.

Given the timing of his interview, most observers assume he's putting his name down for Manchester United when Sir Alex Ferguson, now 67, finally retires - which could be as early as the end of this season.

Until the weekend, the most likely contenders were Ferguson¹s former assistant, Carlos Queiroz, now managing Portugal; Frenchman Laurent Blanc, a former Man Utd defender who's made a name for himself managing Bordeaux, and Martin O'Neill at Aston Villa. But if Mourinho's available, everything changes. And at 46, he could have 20 years in the job, too.