Claudio Ranieri is to leave Chelsea, the English Premiership side announced on Monday.

The worst kept secret in English football was finally confirmed despite the Italian steering Chelsea to second place in the English Premiership and the semifinals of the Champions League last season.

Ranieri, 51, who eventually endeared himself to the Chelsea fans, not least for the dignified way he dealt with all the talk over his future, was brought in by former owner Ken Bates.

His position had been the subject of intense speculation in the British press ever since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich took control of the London club before the start of last season.

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, brought in from Manchester United, added to the pressure created by multi-million pound spending on a host of new players by saying the season would be a "failure" if the team failed to win a trophy.

A club spokesman said: "Claudio has done a first-class job for the club and paved the way for future success.

"We would like to wish Claudio all the best for the future. We are discussing the exact terms of his departure with him and his representatives."

Jose Mourinho, who guided FC Porto to Champions League glory last week, is expected in London this week to sign a deal to take over from Ranieri as coach at Stamford Bridge.

Mourinho is reported to have been offered a 16-million-pound, four-year deal.

Ranieri's departure was signposted by Kenyon last week when, during the Champions League final, he said: "The situation will be resolved next week as this is not a holiday period for us and we need to start planning for next season."

Nicknamed 'the Tinkerman', for his habit of frequently changing the starting line-up, Ranieri guided Chelsea to their best league finish since they won the old First Division title for the only time in their history way back in 1954-55.

But with London rivals Arsenal running away with the Premiership title during an unbeaten league campaign, Ranieri's fate was sealed when Chelsea lost their Champions League semi-final against Monaco.

Ranieri had helped steer Chelsea to a last eight win over Arsenal but was widely criticised for his tactical blunder in the first leg of the semifinal.

Chelsea were all square at 1-1 against 10-man Monaco late in the second half when Ranieri responded to Andreas Zikos's sending off by bringing on striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in place of defender Mario Melchiot.

His bold gamble to win the game backfired spectacularly, Monaco scoring two more goals.

Instead of going into the second leg all square at 1-1, with the advantage of an away goal, Chelsea found themselves 3-1 behind and there was no way back.

Ranieri though took full responsibility for his error, saying: "It's my fault. We completely lost the plot but I was sure it was the best thing for the team."