Top 10 most expensive managers before Julian Nagelsmann

While splurging money on football players has become commonplace now, managers are often not as sought after. However, a strong exception to that was Bayern Munich’s recruitment of RB Leipzig head coach Julian Nagelsmann for a world record fee worth over €20 million. 

Now that the 33-year-old is comfortably the most expensive manager in the world, we decided to look at the top ten most expensive managers in the history of the sport. 

10. Frank Lampard: £4m

Chelsea recruited the club legend to take over the first team after a single season with Derby County in the Championship. While it wasn’t the spell we all hoped it would be, Lampard did a great job with the resources and the situation he had on hand. 

9. Maurizio Sarri, Brendan Rodgers, Mark Hughes and Ronald Koeman: £5m

Chelsea managers will feature quite a few times on this list, and Maurizio Sarri is the second man to make it, lasting a single season despite winning the Europa League. 

Brendan Rodgers and Ronald Koeman were recruited to Liverpool and Everton respectively in 2012 and 2016, while Manchester City paid the fee for Mark Hughes in 2008. 

5. Jose Mourinho: £5.2m (Chelsea)

The Special One is arguably the most successful Chelsea manager ever, and in his first spell, he managed to put the Blues on the map. His spell from 2004 to 2007 saw them lift two Premier League titles, two League cups and one FA Cup with a 67.03 win percentage.

4. Jose Mourinho: £6.9m (Real Madrid) 

After winning the Champions League with Porto, a widely successful three-year spell with Chelsea and the treble with Inter Milan, Los Galacticos came calling for the Special One in 2010 to end Barcelona’s stronghold over Spain. 

3. Ruben Amorim: £8.6m

Amorim had only managed 13 games when he became the second most expensive manager in the history of football. Currently, with Sporting, he has a won percentage of over 70 and is on the verge of winning the league with the club. 

2. Brendan Rodgers: £8.8m (Leicester)

After spending a successful spell at Celtic, Rodgers returned to England to take over the Foxes and has done a fine job with the squad at hand. Leicester currently are on the brink of returning to the Champions League and have already made it to their first FA Cup final in over 50 years. 

1. Andre Villas-Boas: £13.3m 

After winning the quadruple with Porto and going unbeaten in 2010, Villas-Boas was snapped up by Chelsea in 2011, but the spell did not turn out the way they hoped it would. Sacked after only nine months in charge, Chelsea would ironically go on to win the Champions League that year with Di Matteo taking charge temporarily.