The most expensive head coaches: Who were they and how did they do?

Where the trouble is the greatest…… money helps. Because after Julian Nagelsmann, Xabi Alonso, Unai Emery, Roberto De Zerbi and Ralf Rangnick all said no to Bayern Munich, Germany’s top club decided to (finally) splurge some and just buy their next manager.

Long-time Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany is the man to take charge of the 33-time German champions this summer, even though his current boss Burnley was relegated from the Premier League.

At the same time, the 38-year-old Belgian has used an attacking and assertive style throughout his coaching career so far – before moving up from the Premier League with Burnley, he coached Anderlecht in his home country for two years – which paid off in terms of results in the Premier League this year.

But those games were a pleasure to watch, which is also the reason why Bayern paid Burnley 12 million euros as compensation for the coach, making Kompany one of the most expensive coaches in history. Olybet.TV lists the top nine of the corresponding ranking here.

Why nine? The tenth place is shared by Maurizio Sarri (Napoli -> Chelsea), Ronald Koeman (Southampton -> Everton) and Brendan Rodgers (Swansea City -> Liverpool), all of whose price tag was 5.8 million euros.

9th place – Jose Mourinho

(FC Porto -> London Chelsea) €6.1 million.

Jose Mourinho was one of the hottest names in the football world in 2004, right after winning the Champions League with Porto, which is why Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was ready to pay a phenomenal sum for the Portuguese at the time.

But considering that Mourinho led the Blues to the English championship in his debut season – after a 50-year hiatus – to which he added another title a year later, it can be said with full confidence that this investment paid off many times over.

Statistics in Chelsea: 185 games, 124 wins, 38 draws, 23 losses, winning percentage 67.03%.

Honors at Chelsea: 2 x English champion, 2 x English League Cup, 1 x English Cup, 1 x English Super Cup

8th place – Jose Mourinho

(Milan Inter -> Real Madrid) 8.1 million euros.

However, Chelsea has not been the only club willing to pay for Mourinho. Years later, Real Madrid was ready to pay as much as 8.1 million euros for the man to lure him from Milan to Spain.

Unfortunately for the Portuguese, he moved there during the period when FC Barcelona dominated the Iberian Peninsula (and the whole of Europe), so Mourinho was limited to “only” one championship at Real. But that’s something on its own.

Statistics in Real: 178 games, 127 wins, 28 draws, 23 losses, winning percentage 71.34%

Honors at Real: 1 x Spanish Champion, 1 x Spanish Cup, 1 X Spanish Super Cup

7th place – Ruben Amorim

(Braga -> Sporting Lisbon) 10.1 million euros.

Probably the biggest surprise on this list. Ruben Amorim was a practically unknown name to the public when Sporting paid 10.1 million for him in 2020. Which makes this amount even more mysterious: Amorim had only been coaching for two years at that point,

However, he had proven himself – steering small Braga to the League Cup winner, among other things – and continued an upward trend at Sporting as well. This is also the reason why rumors linked him to both Bayern and Liverpool this year. Currently, however, it seems that Amorim may move to the head of West Ham United instead.

Statistics at Sporting: 208 games, 146 wins, 31 draws, 31 losses, winning percentage 70.19%

Honors at Sporting: 1 x Portuguese Champion, 2 x Portuguese League Cup, 1 x Portuguese Super Cup

6th place – Brendan Rodgers

(Glasgow Celtic -> Leicester City) €10.3 million

After a failure at Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers fled across the border to Scotland, where he quickly rebuilt his reputation. With Celtic, he remained unbeaten for 65 matches while becoming the champion, when Leicester City came knocking on the door. This with a bag of money.

Even though it was a big investment, it can be said that it paid off: first, in the form of winning the English Cup in the 2020/21 season.

Statistics at Leicester: 204 games, 96 wins, 37 draws, 71 losses, win percentage 47.05%

Honors at Leicester: 1 x FA Cup, 1 x FA Super Cup

5th place – Arne Slot

(Rotterdam Feyenoord -> Liverpool) 11 million euros

After Jürgen Klopp announced his decision to leave earlier this year, the rumour mill began grinding: who will be Liverpool’s next head coach? Different people were talked about, until Arne Slot, who led Feyenoord to both the Dutch champion and the cup winner, was decided upon.

Time will tell whether it was worth paying 11 million euros as compensation for him. They joined hands with the Dutchman and his assistants – for whom they were paid separately two million (!), or 13 million in total – for three years.

Statistics at Feyenoord: 145 games, 94 wins, 27 draws, 24 losses, winning percentage 64.82%

Honors at Feyenoord: 1 x Dutch champion, 1 x Dutch cup

4th place – Vincent Kompany

(Burnley -> Bayern Munich) 12 million euros

Same thing. Time will tell if the amount spent on Kompany really pays off. However, the Belgian has a small advantage, because in the light of Bayer Leverkusen’s wonderful season, the German championship also seems like a trophy by which he could be judged. However, success at Bayern is generally measured only through the Champions League.

Statistics at Burnley: 96 games, 41 wins, 24 draws, 31 losses, winning percentage 42.71%

Honors at Burnley: 1 x Premier League

3rd place – Andre Villas-Boas

(FC Porto -> London Chelsea) 15.6 million euros

A young Portuguese coach steering FC Porto to victory in the Euro series. Sounds familiar? It also sounded like that to Chelsea, so they paid 15.6 million euros for Villas-Boas. Only, unlike Mourinho, this investment did not immediately pay off at all.

Villas-Boas was sacked just 40 games into the job and his time in charge is still remembered as one of the club’s worst.

Statistics at Chelsea: 40 games, 20 wins, 10 draws, 10 losses, win percentage 50%

Honors at Chelsea: –

2nd place – Graham Potter

(Brighton Howe & Albion -> London Chelsea) €25.3 million

From one awful Chelsea investment to another. Graham Potter did a good job at Brighton Howe & Albion, so there were high hopes for him in London.

Instead, he essentially got out of bed every day with the wrong foot, and when Chelsea had only 12 (!) wins out of 31 matches, Abramovich decided to write this investment on the losing side.

Statistics at Chelsea: 31 games, 12 wins, 8 draws, 11 losses, win percentage 38.70%

Honors at Chelsea: –

1st place – Julian Nagelsmann

(RB Leipzig -> Bayern Munich) 25.5 million euros

Unfortunately, the most expensive head coach in history is also an example of when things didn’t work out. Julian Nagelsmann was once considered the best young coach in the football world because what he did at Leipzig RB simply supported that argument.

However, he did not last two full years at the head of Bayern. True, the trophies did come, but despite him, not because of him, because Bayern’s financial means and the choice of players played a role in them.

Statistics at Bayern: 84 games, 60 wins, 14 draws, 10 losses, winning percentage 71.42%

Honors at Bayern: 1 x German Champion, 2 x German Cup