José Mourinho’s representative has played down reports that he is in line to become coach of Inter Milan. Roberto Mancini announced that he would step down at the end of the season after his team lost to Liverpool in the first knockout round of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Mourinho has been out of work since he left Chelsea last September. Eládio Paramés, his adviser, is confident that Mourinho will be in charge of a top team next season but said there had been no discussion with Inter, the Serie A leaders. “As far as I am aware he has not spoken to the Inter president [Massimo Moratti],” Paramés said. “What happens is that his background speaks for itself, so it’s natural that the media keep writing, talking and speculating about him.

“Papers mention the Liverpool job, too, but Mourinho has had no contact there, either. Definitely he will be managing a top-flight club in Europe next season.”

Mourinho is tempted by the prospect of managing in Spain or Italy, but is unlikely to return to England. “Quite often José says to me, ‘Everyone links my name to the clubs in trouble, but the truth is that I remain without a job and I’m getting used to the speculation,’ ” Paramés said.

“Why does he prefer Italy or Spain rather than England? Because he wants new challenges. He is not banned [a clause was made in his settlement with Chelsea that he could not manage another Premier League club this season].

“Those leagues [Italian and Spanish] play a different style and he is attracted to this challenge. It does not mean that he will not return to England. He can do.”

Mourinho won the title twice at Chelsea, but was unable to repeat his feat of lifting the Champions League, which he did with FC Porto four years ago.

Chelsea are likely to receive more money from playing in the Champions League in future after Uefa’s deadline for bidding for the broadcasting rights ended yesterday. The BBC, ITV, Sky and Setanta are thought to have made an offer. The cost of the UK rights is expected to rise by more than 25 per cent, most of which will be passed on to the English clubs that qualify for the group stage.

Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool earned between £15 million and £27 million from TV rights, sponsorship cash and prize-money last season. The present ITV and Sky deals are understood to be worth about £90 million a year and it is thought that the successful bidders will have to pay about £125 million to secure the next deal, which runs from 2009 to 2012.