Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho is weighing up a return to the Premiership next season.

The Sunday Mirror says the former Chelsea manager has emerged as a target for Real Madrid after their Champions League failure last week.

Mourinho, who is under contract to the Italian Serie A champions until 2012, can exercise his right to leave by paying £5.5million to buy out his contract in the close season.

Sources close to the ­Portuguese coach claim any prospective club looking to employ him will underwrite the ­compensation due to ­Inter Milan.

Both Liverpool and ­Manchester City are monitoring Mourinho's situation but he has mixed thoughts on both vacancies if they should arise.

Mourinho is unlikely to take the Liverpool job with restrictive spending in place and realises that a move to City will almost certainly damage his chances of landing the Manchester United job one day.

He would relish the opportunity to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford. But as things stand it looks odds on that he will move to Madrid in the summer.