Jose Mourinho on his way to Real Madrid

The headline in Sunday's Marca said it all: 'Real Madrid recruits a champion'. The champion in question is Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho and, according to the Spanish paper, he's already made a verbal pact to join Real.

The deal was allegedly brokered on Friday, with Real president Florentino Perez set to make an official announcement tomorrow or Wednesday. Another Spanish paper, AS, confirm the story and adds that Mourinho will sign a four-year contract worth €10m a season.

Mourinho guided Inter to Champions League glory on Saturday with a 2-0 defeat of German club Bayern Munich - the first time the Italian club have won the trophy since 1965 - and that success followed on a domestic league and cup double, making the Portuguese coach the most sought after boss in world football.

And Mourinho - who also won the Champions League with Porto in 2004 - has made little secret of his desire to coach Real, saying last week: "It was difficult to leave Chelsea and it will be sad to leave Inter. Inter is my home in the same way Chelsea was my home. But that's life, that's football."

Mourinho joined Inter after being sacked as Chelsea coach in 2007, despite having led the London club to successive Premier League titles, and he says he feels ready for a new challenge: "Now I have two homes, Stamford Bridge and San Siro [Inter's stadium]. And now I will have a third home - probably the Santiago Bernabeu. I want to go to Real Madrid, one hundred percent. If you don't coach Real Madrid then you always have a gap in your career."

Though Mourinho is back in Milan celebrating Saturday's victory over Bayern Munich, the Spanish press report that Inter president Massimo Moratti remained in Madrid (where the final was staged) to dot the i's and cross the t's on the deal with his Real counterpart Florentino Perez.

And according to several papers, Mourinho might not be the only Inter name on the move to Madrid. Brazilian right-back Maicon and Diego Milito, the Argentina frontman who scored both Inter's goals against Bayern, are also rumoured to be on their way to the Bernabau.

With Saturday's triumph Mourinho has now joined the small band of coaches - Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld being the others - to win Europe's most prestigious trophy with two different clubs. And now the 'Special One' has his sights set on Champions League title number three: "My target now is to win another championship that I've never won [the Spanish title] and win the Champions League with a third club," he said. And after that?

"Then [I] come back to England. Everybody knows that English football is my passion and I will go back to England once." ·