Chelsea moved a step closer to landing their primary managerial target when Porto confirmed Andre Villas-Boas intended to resign his post at the Portuguese champions.
Villas-Boas, who at just 33 years of age will become the youngest manager in the Barclays Premier League should he complete a switch to west London, told Porto he would meet the 15million euro release clause in his contract himself, paving the way for him to replace Carlo Ancelotti at Stamford Bridge.
Porto made a statement to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission which read: "FC Porto was notified of the intention of Andre Villas-Boas to resign from his contract with the club by triggering the release clause immediately.
"The contract will be terminated once the required amount is paid."
Villas-Boas, who led Porto to the domestic double and Europa League success last season, has worked for Chelsea before as part of Jose Mourinho's backroom staff and speaks good English.
If he does succeed Ancelotti - the Italian was sacked at the end of last season - one of his first moves could be to sign Porto's star striker Falcao, the £25m-rated Colombian having impressed as the Dragons won the Europa League final at Dublin's Aviva Stadium, where the 25-year-old netted the only goal against Braga.
With Chelsea having stepped up their pursuit of the former Academica boss, question marks now surround the future of Guus Hiddink.
The Dutchman, who enjoyed a successful spell as caretaker boss of Chelsea in 2009, was thought to be in line for a return to Stamford Bridge, although reports have suggested he would prefer to remain as a coach and not move upstairs into a sporting director role.
His agent today threw up an alternative by refusing to dismiss a link with Inter Milan, who themselves had been interested in Villas-Boas.
The coaching role at the San Siro is likely to be vacated by Leonardo shortly, with the former AC Milan boss poised to become Paris St Germain's new sporting director.
Inter have been frustrated in their attempts to recruit Sinisa Mihajlovic, Marcelo Bielsa and now Villas-Boas but Cees van Nieuwenhuizen said Hiddink, currently in charge of the Turkish national side, "would evaluate" Inter's offer should the Nerazzurri reach an agreement with his current employers.
"We have never spoken to (Inter president Massimo) Moratti," Van Nieuwenhuizen told the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.
"Hiddink has a contract with the Turkish federation and therefore before any talks can begin, Moratti must contact the (Turkish) federation and say he is interested in Guus.
"He is contracted until 2012 so, for the time being, there is no possibility that he can coach Inter.
"If Inter reached an agreement with Turkey? Well at that point Hiddink would certainly evaluate the Nerazzurri offer but he is a professional and he has never broken a contract in his whole career."
Andre Villas-Boas Factfile
1977: Born in Porto on October 17.
1993: Invited to work as a trainee with FC Porto's youth-team coaches by manager Sir Bobby Robson.
1994: Achieves UEFA C coaching licence in Scotland.
2000: Takes charge of the British Virgin Islands for two international matches. Both end in defeat.
2002: Becomes part of Jose Mourinho's backroom staff at Porto.
2004: Follows Mourinho to Chelsea.
2008: Moves with Mourinho to Inter Milan.
2009: Appointed manager of Academica in October, with club bottom of the table and without a win. Villas-Boas guides them to an 11th-place finish and a Portuguese League Cup semi-final.
2010: June 2 - Appointed manager of boyhood club Porto.
August 7 - Wins Portuguese Supercup with 2-0 victory over Benfica.
2011: April 3 - Leads Porto to their 25th league title, finishing with the biggest ever winning margin over second place (21 points).
May 18 - Porto win Europa League with a 1-0 triumph over fellow Portuguese side Braga.
May 22 - Guides Porto to a trophy treble with a comprehensive 6-2 win over Vitoria de Guimaraes in Portuguese Cup final.
June 21 - Porto confirm Villas-Boas has tendered his resignation and his contract will be terminated once his 15million euros release clause has been paid.
