MADRID, May 21: Jose Mourinho will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season after a turbulent three-year spell in charge of the Spanish giants, club president Florentino Perez confirmed Monday.

The Portuguese’s final season at Real has been blighted by divisions and a lack of trophies, but he is free to leave three years early from his contract after the final match on June 1 without any compensation involved and his imminent departure will add fuel to widespread expectations he is poised to return to former club Chelsea.

While Real have yet to name a successor, president Perez confirmed the club had approached Paris St Germain to ask about the availability of Carlo Ancelotti.

“After the talks with our coach Jose Mourinho we have reached the agreement to end the contractual relationship at the end of this season,” Perez told a news conference at Real’s Bernabeu stadium after a board meeting on Monday.

“Both the club and the coach agree that it is the right moment to end this relationship. I want to thank Jose Mourinho for the work he has done in the last few years,” the construction magnate said, adding Mourinho would not receive a payoff.

“To spend three years in a first-division Spanish club is not easy _ I share his reasons for wanting to leave. The level of pressure has increased, so much that this is what has happened now ... he may have made some mistakes and asked for forgiveness, but the level of pressure Mourinho has been under has been unusual.”

Perez described that pressure in the Spanish capital as “not normal”.

“He is a very demanding and competitive coach ... this level has a degree of wear on a person,” Perez said. “Mourinho told me that a football match in England lasts for two hours before the match and then two hours afterwards. Here it lasts seven days a week and 24 hours a day. Here you cannot sleep even for a day.”

The club have two La Liga games left to play this season and Mourinho’s final match in charge will be at home to Osasuna the weekend after next.

Mourinho, who has been strongly linked with a return to Chelsea — a team he managed between 2004 and 2007, has endured a torrid final season in charge of Los Blancos culminating in Friday’s defeat by Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey final that ensured Real end the season without a major trophy.

However, Perez denied that Mourinho had been sacked by the club and said they will not have to pay the Portuguese coach compensation despite the fact his current contract runs until 2016.

“No one has sacked anyone, it has been a mutual agreement,” Perez said.

Mourinho will leave having won only a single La Liga title — sandwiched between four Barcelona successes, including one this season — and one major domestic cup.

That league title in 2012 may have brought a record 100 points, but he notably failed to deliver the club’s 10th European Cup.

“This has been an insufficient season for us and also for Mourinho himself,” Perez said.Real’s move for Italian Ancelotti, who has told PSG he wants to leave, had been rejected by the French champions but he was not the only candidate, Perez said.

“We have not agreed any pre-contract with any coach. That is a job for the next few days. It is not an issue we will resolve tomorrow,” he said. “I want to show my maximum respect to PSG, their president and all the clubs.”

PSG sporting director Leonardo said on French radio on Monday the situation with Ancelotti, who has another year to run on his contract, had not changed.

“It is important to continue what we have started,” Leonardo told RTL. “That’s why we will still try to keep Carlo.”

The agreement with Mourinho allows the colourful and outspoken coach to return to Chelsea after a six-year absence. He won’t receive compensation nor will the London club have to pay Real for his services.

Rafa Benitez’s interim stint in charge of Chelsea will end after a postseason tour of the United States, having secured qualification for the Champions League and won the Europa League last week.Popular with fans and media alike in England — in stark contrast to his many fraught relationships in Spain — Mourinho appears to have repaired his relationship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to make a return to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard can’t wait for Mourinho to return.

“He might rub people up the wrong way but, as a manager, he’s brilliant with his team. Tactically, he’s brilliant with individuals and I think he’s brilliant with the press,” Lampard told Talk Sport radio on Monday. “I know it creates a storm, but he does protect his players.”

Mourinho, 50, joined Real to replace Manuel Pellegrini after leading Inter Milan to the Champions League title in 2010 having become the third coach to win the European Cup with two teams, having also led Porto to the Champions League title in 2004.

Perez had hoped Mourinho, whom he has often referred to as “the best coach in the world”, would help the club win the 10th European crown that has eluded them since 2002 and end the dominant run of arch rivals Barcelona.

His time in charge has been littered with high profile bust-ups with the local media and many of his stellar squad of world class players.

The decision that enraged fans was dropping goalkeeper Iker Casillas, the captain of Real and Spain’s world and two-time European championship-winning national team.

But the bold decision didn’t pay off — and Mourinho’s final season ends with Real once again in Barca’s shadow.

He did end a run of six successive years of last-16 exits in the Champions League as Los Blancos reached three Champions League semi-finals in three years under Mourinho but ultimately it was his failure to lead Real to their treasured ‘Decima’ that will mark his legacy in the Spanish capital.

It was befitting of Mourinho’s fractious time in Real that he was sent off after furiously berating the match officials in his team’s loss to Atletico, forcing him to accept it had been the “worst season of his career”.—Agencies