Panthers to announce Ivan Cleary signing on Monday

The Penrith Panthers will on Monday announce Ivan Cleary as their coach for the next five seasons, with Panthers chairman Dave O’Neill admitting the coach's release from the Wests Tigers would allow the club to finalise the move.

Wests Tigers announced Cleary's release on Sunday morning, with former South Sydney premiership-winning coach Michael Maguire to take over for at least the next three years.

The Panthers were expecting Cleary to arrive at Penrith in 2021 but that will now be brought forward a couple of years as a result of his position becoming untenable at the Tigers.

"We were pretty confident Ivan would be coming to Penrith in 2021," O'Neill told NRL.com.

"Now that he has been released from the Tigers we can finalise what we need to in the coming days and we’re hopeful that things will escalate and he will be here on November 1 for the start of preseason."

NRL.com understands the Panthers will announce Cleary's signature on Monday, with the coach likely to front the media as early as Tuesday.

It had been indicated the Panthers reached a financial settlement with the Wests Tigers in order to trigger the coach's release, but O'Neill insists Penrith haven't coughed up any money to activate Cleary's departure from the Tigers.

It's understood the terms of the compensation were discussed between Cleary and the Tigers.

"I'm not privy to the conversations that were had between them but I can assure you the Panthers haven’t paid any compensation," O'Neill said.