KEY POINTS:
Frank Rijkaard has been targeted as the new Chelsea manager when, as expected, Jose Mourinho is sacked after this Premiership season.
The 44-year-old Barcelona coach has moved to the head of the shortlist to become Mourinho's successor because club owner Roman Abramovich believes he will be able to
deliver the attractive football the Russian billionaire craves for the money he has lavished on Chelsea. Crucially, Rijkaard is also regarded as a less aggressive and confrontational figure than Mourinho, whose antics have exhausted Abramovich's patience.
Whether Rijkaard, who is considering taking a break from football, can be persuaded to move to Stamford Bridge remains to be seen.
Such is the level of disenchantment with Mourinho that, it is understood, Abramovich has even considered sacking him before the end of this season and despite the fact that an unprecedented quadruple of European Cup, Premiership, FA Cup and League Cup is still achievable.
Indeed, it remains possible, as extraordinary as it sounds, that should Chelsea be knocked out of the European Cup by Valencia that Mourinho will be asked to leave immediately despite having a £5.2 million-a-year contract (about NZ$15 million) that runs until 2010.
According to those close to Abramovich, Mourinho's conduct has deteriorated in recent months. His behaviour has compounded the fact that the billionaire has not enjoyed watching Chelsea play recently. They may have lost only one game in their last 29 but the football produced has too often been unimpressive and lacking flair.
Mourinho's outburst before the last Champions League tie - when he said he wasn't bothered whether he was dismissed, as he would leave Chelsea a millionaire and walk into another job - may well have been true but it went down badly with Abramovich and his advisers.
Mourinho's outburst was followed by a poor performance against Porto which provoked the response, from sources at the club, that he would do better concentrating on getting his team to play more exciting football than complaining about his lot.
Part of Mourinho's motivation is to try to protect the pay-off he is due should he be sacked. Mourinho's predecessor Claudio Ranieri did not receive the full settlement he was entitled to when he was dismissed and the Chelsea manager is aware that he may come under pressure.
Mourinho told friends in January, following the dispute over transfers, that he expected to leave Chelsea this English summer.
His agent, Jorge Mendes, has already been sounded out by leading clubs including Real Madrid and Inter Milan while Mourinho may also be in the frame if vacancies arise at Juventus or AC Milan.
Tension surfaced between Mourinho and his Portuguese coaching staff and a strong Dutch-Russian grouping at Chelsea led by Frank Arnesen, the club's chief scout. Friends believe Mourinho was undermined in attempted transfer deals, with several targets vetoed.
He wanted to sign Deportivo La Coruna defender Jorge Andrade and then Standard Liege's Oguchi Onyewu - now at Newcastle United - but both deals were blocked.
Instead Mourinho was urged to take Alex from PSV Eindhoven but said he didn't want the Brazilian who then went on to perform so impressively against Arsenal.
There were also attempts to make changes to coaching staff - with the position of assistant manager Steve Clarke, whose contract expires this summer, under threat - and Mourinho was asked to take on someone to work directly with striker Andrei Shevchenko.
Instead, Mourinho said he expected the Ukrainian to work harder, while associates close to Abramovich believe the 30-year-old has been poorly treated by the manager and suffered when asked to play out of position for a while.
It means Abramovich has been spending time considering candidates to take over at Stamford Bridge.
The criteria, according to sources, are clear: a young, attacking coach with strong international credentials - preferably as a player and preferably one who played or coached at a World Cup or major championships - but also one who will fit into the system at Chelsea without the rough edges and aggression of Mourinho.
- THE INDEPENDENT