Chelsea and West Ham United agree Steve Clarke compensation package

[Elano]

Chelsea have come to an agreement with West Ham United over compensation for the move of Steve Clarke. Chelsea had hoped to receive £5million for their first-team coach, but have agreed to a settlement of about £1m. The deal will be announced this afternoon.

Clarke will be appointed as assistant to Gianfranco Zola, the new West Ham manager, and is likely to start work tomorrow. Zola had named Clarke as his preferred coach when he was interviewed for the managerial job.

Kevin Keen, the reserve-team coach who was in charge of West Ham’s 3-2 defeat away to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, will also take on first-team duties.

Clarke, 45, had two years left on his contract at Stamford Bridge, which was worth £800,000 a season including bonuses. His three-year contract at West Ham is likely to be worth less than half of that.

He resigned as Chelsea's assistant first-team coach on Thursday in an attempt to pave the way for a move to Upton Park.Clarke's departure is a setback to Chelsea because he was very popular in the dressing-room, particularly with the English core of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole. The club have no imminent plans to replace him.

The Scot, who first began his association with Chelsea as a player in 1987, enjoyed an excellent relationship with Zola during their time together at Stamford Bridge.

He made a valuable contribution as an assistant under Jose Mourinho, the former Chelsea manager, and was in charge of most of the training sessions under Avram Grant, but has had less involvement in the reign of Luiz Felipe Scolari.