Jose Mourinho has told English football fans he will be back - but not immediately. Following his sensational departure after more than three years with Chelsea in the early hours of Thursday morning, Mourinho has repeated the club's assertion that he was not sacked.

And amid speculation linking him with Tottenham Hotspur yesterday he insists he will one day return to the Premier League, but only after taking on another challenge in a different country.

"Yes, for sure I want (to)," he said when asked if he would return to England. "I don't want it in my next step. I don't want to leave Chelsea and go immediately to another door. I think my next step must be another country, must be another experience, another football.

"But I am 44, I hope I have many years in front of me. I love English football and I don't change a single word I've said before."

Mourinho also had kind words for the referees, journalists and rival managers with whom he so often clashed.

"One or another frustration with referees doesn't stop me saying (England has) very good referees, honest people. Some of them were calling today," he added. "The English press, if you understand their philosophy, it was very funny to play their game. Salt and pepper every day.

"Other managers, great people, top people. Very supportive and very nice to me.

"In football terms, a fantastic period of my career. I want to be back but not the next step."

Mourinho also ruled himself out of the running for the Portuguese national job, and any other job in his homeland. And he insisted that his parting of the ways with Chelsea was the right move for both parties, and that each had agreed on the step.

"It is right that we are both happy," he added. "(Owner) Roman (Abramovich), Peter (Kenyon, chief executive), the top people at the club are happy, and I'm happy too.

"I was not sacked and I didn't close the door. If I wanted to close the door I would do it before - at the end of season.

"I gave my word to the supporters I would not go for another club. If Chelsea wanted to sack me they would do it at the end of the season and not at this moment.

"So mutual agreement I think is the correct English for what happened. I'm not saying I'm happy. I'm happy I stopped my work at Chelsea."

Mourinho agreed with the club's previous statement that swift action was needed to prevent a fractious situation stagnating further.

"When people don't want to sack and the manager doesn't want to close the door you could go on and on and on," he said. "No problem with that, but I think it was the best situation."

Mourinho went on to say it was his intention to learn another new language - although his choice of Italian or German was more to do with his proficiencies elsewhere, rather than a firm desire to take a job in Serie A or the Bundesliga.

"I will have to go enjoy my life," he said. "I will study another language because I want to learn one more.

"I'm not tired, I don't need one, two, three, four months (to recover).

"Stress is not to have a football game to play." He added: "I have will have to choose between Italian and German, because French, Spanish and English are fine."

And in a statement which suggested he did not feel appreciated at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho added: "I am ready for every country, for every project, I just hope that the next one I am surrounded by love so I can express everything I have to express in terms of my qualities as a manager."

The former Porto manager admitted he shed tears over his departure. "I was crying. Everything I do is with a lot of passion and emotion," he said. "I create everything around the group ethic. You have a family at home and another one on the training ground."

But Mourinho insisted he would no longer be following the club's fortunes. He added: "I am not interested in Chelsea football matches - I don't care at all."