Chelsea's Kenyon says Mourinho will not take England job

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will not take the post of England coach under any circumstances, club chief executive Peter Kenyon said yesterday.

"He's made it quite clear he's not interested and we would make it quite clear we are not interested in letting him go," Kenyon told BBC radio.

"He likes Chelsea, he and his family like London, and he is very happy with what we are planning to do."

The England job will fall vacant in July when Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson leaves after the World Cup. Eriksson, 57, who had a contract until 2008, said last week he had agreed to leave early after embarrassing revelations in a Sunday newspaper.

Kenyon said Mourinho, who took Chelsea to the Premier League title last season, had another six years left on his contract.

"We would like him to stay longer than that," he said.

A report in The Sunday Times said Eriksson had been told by the FA his services were no longer required after he told a journalist posing as a wealthy Arab businessman that he would be prepared to leave England to take over at Aston Villa. The report added that Eriksson had said last November he planned to see out his contact.

"When asked in Montreux, where he was attending the draw for the Euro 2008 qualifying tournament, what had changed since then he said: 'My trip to Dubai'," the newspaper read.