Jose's new Chelsea deal

Jose Mourinho was today offered an astonishing new deal to keep him at Chelsea.

The controversial Portuguese coach was given the £5.2million, three-year extension after an extraordinary series of rows with the club which left billionaire owner Roman Abramovich fearing he could walk out.

If agreed, it will earn him an amazing £1m-a-year pay rise. His current deal, which runs until 2007, is worth £4.2m a year.

It puts him leagues ahead of the next highest-paid manager, the England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who earns £4m a year, and Premiership rivals Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger.

The offer was made after two days of peace talks with Mourinho. The Chelsea head coach was angry at what he perceived to be a lack of support from the club's hierarchy over UEFA's decision to ban him from the touchline for two matches over the Anders Frisk referee row.

Following talks between his agent, Jorge Mendes, and club chief executive Peter Kenyon on Monday, Abramovich flew to London to agree details of the new contract yesterday. Under the new deal, Mourinho will supplant Frank Lampard as Chelsea's highest-paid employee, and the club could reveal its details as soon as tomorrow.

Mendes said: "The negotiations are going well and nearing an end. It will be concluded very soon, maybe even on Thursday."

Reports emerged last weekend suggesting Mourinho would be prepared to quit the club in the summer, even though he is on the verge of leading them to the Premiership title, their first English league triumph in 50 years. The club are also in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and play Bayern Munich at Stamford Bridge tonight - a match Mourinho will watch on television away from the ground because of his two-game ban.