Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink has confirmed that he shall leave the club at the end of the current season, irrespective of UEFA Champions League result.
Hiddink is officially the manager of the Premier League giants until the end of the season. He is also the coach of the Russian national team.
Under the Dutchman, Chelsea have improved much and are more or less through to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. There have been consistent rumours on his future as it has been held that Chelsea owner Roman Ibramovic was intending to convince him to stay on beyond the summer.
But Hiddink has always maintained that he shall stay on at Stamford Bridge until the end of the season and no more. In an interview with the British tabloid The Sun, Hiddink has been quoted as saying that he intends to step down from the post at the end of the 2008-2009 season.
Hiddink said:
“I have a formal contract with Russia and it is very important for me to stick by my word.
“The moral standards in our business sometimes go up and down but I want to see my commitments wholeheartedly through to the end.
“I owe something to the Russia players. If I were to end a contract that had not yet expired, they could blame me for not standing by my own values.
“I could help as Chelsea boss this season because Russia only had two games. But next season Russia have a friendly in August and a very tough sequence of qualifying matches in September and October.
“Then there is also the chance they will be involved in the play-offs so the situation becomes impossible.”