Manchester City have offered Luiz Felipe Scolari a package worth £3.2 million a year to succeed Sven- Göran Eriksson as manager. But Thaksin Shinawatra, the club's impatient chairman, has demanded an answer before the Brazilian leads Portugal into the European Championship finals next month.

Scolari is understood to be interested by City's proposal, which was put to him by Taweesuk “Jack” Srisumrid, the club's executive director, and an intermediary who is believed to be Brazilian. However, Scolari is concerned by Thaksin's insistence on an immediate response and would prefer to wait until after the finals in Austria and Switzerland before making a decision on his future.

The affair carries more than a sense of déjà vu with regard to the Football Association's ill-fated pursuit of Scolari two years ago, when he was offered the opportunity to become England head coach, again in succession to Eriksson. On that occasion, Scolari provisionally agreed to take the job, but within 48 hours stated that he would not be pressed into a formal acceptance that might jeopardise Portugal's hopes in the World Cup finals that were to follow a few weeks later.

Other factors later emerged, such as his fears about the threat of media intrusion into his private life and even alleged threats to his family, but his unwillingness to commit to another job on that occasion should cause a degree of discomfort in Manchester. The recruitment process - and, indeed, the unedifying process of dispensing with the services of Eriksson - is being handled exclusively by Thaksin, his right-hand man, Srisumrid, and hand-picked advisers from the football world.

It is a source of dismay to the longer-serving members of the City hierarchy, such as John Wardle, the deputy chairman, Alistair Mackintosh, the chief executive, and Bryan Bodek, the director, who have tried, seemingly to no avail, to persuade Thaksin that it would be wrong to dismiss Eriksson.

The wages on offer to Scolari represent a significant advance on Eriksson's salary at the City of Manchester Stadium, which is understood to be £2.5 million a year. More glaringly, it would be a dramatic improvement on Scolari's earnings from the Portuguese football federation, which pays him less than £500,000 a year. For financial reasons alone, the job is certain to tempt him, even though he has frequently stated that money would not motivate his career choices.

Scolari, 59, is expected to pursue a new challenge once his contract with the Portuguese federation expires in July, but he said last week that he would not make a decision until after the tournament. That leaves City with the prospect of being without a manager for the whole of June - as they were last summer after the dismissal of Stuart Pearce - although it has emerged that Eriksson may be given an unwelcome stay of execution to take his squad on an end-of-season trip to Thailand and Hong Kong.

Eriksson is known to have been hurt and upset at his treatment by Thaksin, but yesterday he attempted to put his disappointment into context. “This is not the toughest time I have had in football,” the Swede said. “Speculation in football, whether it is to do with managers, players, business or politics, is always there today. All I want to see is another City win at Middlesbrough next Sunday then it is the time for talking. I think it is always important in my job to behave in a proper way.

“Maybe people think I haven't always done that, but there are always excuses to behave badly if you choose to, and I don't.”

Eriksson's refusal to rock the boat - or perhaps to speak his mind - is likely to be reflected in a considerable severance package when he leaves the club, but it is not yet clear whether he would be paid a full year's salary. After his successful rehabilitation at City, he is certain to be in demand, with Benfica - one of his former clubs - known to be among those interested in his services, and he is eager to continue working, having been frustrated by the miserable year he endured without a job between his posts with the FA and City.

“Now we all have to be patient for the next seven days and, after the league has finished, then is the time to talk,” he said. “But not now.”