Mourinho eyes return to England

"I just say openly that for many reasons after Real Madrid, Spain, Inter, Italy, Chelsea, England, Porto, Portugal, that after this project, the next step will be England for many reasons, but when I don't know," said Mourinho, who coached Chelsea from 2004-7 before moving to Inter Milan.

The Portuguese coach, speaking in an interview with CNN, remained tightlipped about which club he might be tempted by amid speculation he would be among the favourites to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.

"I call him the boss because he's the boss of the coaches and I hope that when I go back to English football he still manages Manchester United," Mourinho said of Ferguson.

"I don't think about that, especially as I have a four-year contract with Real, I sign it and when I sign it, I sign it because I wanted to be in Real Madrid at this period of my career and I don't think (of being) in another club."

But Mourinho admitted that he remained in contact with Chelsea's Russian billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich.

"We are in touch a lot, and the last example is Michael Essien was going to another club and when I said (gestures in making a telephone call) 'please leave it to your friend', he left it to his friend.

"We have a great relationship in fact."