Milan- The rumours that Manchester City have made a massive, and possibly convincing, offer to Jose Mourinho comes at a time when the Portuguese coach seems to have had enough of Italian football after just four months at Inter Milan.

The English tabloid The Sun this week wrote that the wealthy Arab owners of the English club have had contacts with the coach "and have received a positive response" about his possible takeover from Mark Hughes at the end of the season.

The reigning champions have a narrow lead in the Italian Serie A after 11 games, but have been far from convincing both at home and in the Champions League, which has strained the coach's relationship with players, fans and the Italian press.

After a last-gasp 1-0 win over Udinese at the weekend, Mourinho mocked some fans who had jeered him at the Giuseppe Meazza, then bickered with two different sets of journalists, at Sky TV and the public channel RAI, abandoning an interview with the latter.

Given the situation, an alleged record offer of 18 million euros per season (22.5 million dollars), which would about double his current pay at Inter, looks like a very comfortable way for Mourinho to get away from tensions he may not have factored in when he took the job in the summer.

As he appears to ongoing problems to fine-tune his team, Mourinho seems to particularly dislike the lack of passion he said he feels from Inter fans and the alleged hostility from the media, which he has often called disrespectful.

He bristled at recent comparisons with former Inter coach Roberto Mancini, whom Inter fired after winning three straight titles, and replied curtly to criticism of his game tactics.

Beside Mourinho's evident dissatisfaction, The Sun also noted that he said earlier that he would consider a return to the Premiership after the three seasons and two titles won with Chelsea.

Italy's daily la Repubblica said on Wednesday that "if City have at least sounded out Mourinho, this would be enough to explain the nervousness of the Portuguese coach.

"When you have an offer worth 18 million euros at hand, the highest ever paid to a coach, it doesn't take much to fall out of love with your current job." (dpa)