Top 10 highest spending managers

Despite the summer transfer window being closed for all European clubs, there are still many clubs who are in need of reinforcements, with Manchester United needing a creative midfielder and Arsenal needing a confident centre-back being 2 examples. After thinking about the transfer window we started to look at managers who have made full use of it, more specifically the managers who have spent the most money during them. Below are the top 10 highest spending managers and their top 10 most expensive signings.

Starting off our list at number 10 we have current Arsenal manager Unai Emery with the reason for his involvement being his time in France where he managed PSG. In fact, in Emery’s top 10 most expensive signings, 7 of them were for PSG with Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno and Sokratis being the only Arsenal signings in his top 10.

1. Neymar - €222M (PSG)
2. Kylian Mbappe - €180M (PSG)
3. Julian Draxler - €40M (PSG)

Rafa Benitez is mostly known for his time at Liverpool where he helped the club win its 5th European Cup after that magnificent comeback in Istanbul and more recently at Newcastle where he brought the club back into the Premier League and lead them to a comfortable 10th place finish during the 17/18 season. It’s easy to forget that Benitez spent time at Real Madrid and Napoli however that’s where 2 of his biggest signings happened when he brought Mateo Kovacic to the Bernabeu from Inter and breaking Napoli’s transfer record after signing Gonzalo Higuain from Real madrid.

1. Gonzalo Higuain - €40M (Napoli)
2. Fernando Torres - €30M (Liverpool)
3. Mateo Kovacic - €29M (Real Madrid)

Without a doubt Claudio Ranieri will be remembered as the man behind Leicester City’s 5000/1 Premier League title triumph in 2016, but many people forget about his time at Monaco where he stunned the Football world after the signing of Radamel Falcao from Atletico Madrid and James Rodriguez from Porto during the 2013 transfer window.

1. James Rodriguez - €45M (Monaco)
2. Radamel Falcao - €43M (Monaco)
3. Islam Slimani - €30.5M (Leicester)

As many of you would have assumed, the vast majority of Mancini’s signings came during his time at Manchester City, with 7 of his top 10 most expensive transfers coming at Manchester City: with Geoffrey Knodogbia and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both going to Inter and Leandro Paredes to Zenit making up the rest of his top 10.

1. Sergio Aguero - €40M (Man City)
2. Edin Dzeko - €37M (Man City
3. Geoffrey Kondogbia - €36M (Inter)

Arsene Wenger was credited for his ability to constantly provide Arsenal with a top 4 finish, however within the last couple of seasons at Arsenal this wasn’t the case as he saw his side drop down to the Europa League. As a result, his top 2 most expensive signings came within his final season in charge at Arsenal.

1. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - €63.7M (Arsenal)
2. Alexandre Lacazette - €53M (Arsenal)
3. Mesut Ozil - €47M (Arsenal)

Despite spending a 4 seasons in charge of AC Milan, Allegri’s transfer history is dominated by his signings for Juventus with all of his top 10 most expensive signings happening during his time at Turin. A couple of notable mentions however is his signings of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mario Balotelli to AC Milan.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo - €117M (Juventus)
2. Gonzalo Higuain - €90M (Juventus)
3. Joao Cancelo - €40.4M (Juventus)

Manuel Pellegrino is arguably responsible for the most insane transfer window out of any manager on his list when he brought Kaka to the Bernabeu as well as breaking the transfer record for a single player when he signed Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United. He is also responsible for signing two of Manchester City current best players in the form of Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo - €94M (Real Madrid)
2. Kevin De Bruyne - €76M (Man City)
3. Kaka - €67M (Real Madrid)

Starting off our top 3 we’ve got current Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola who’s most notable signing came during his time at Barcelona where he brought in Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter. Pep also made history at Manchester City where at the time in 2018 he was responsible for buying: the most expensive goalkeeper in history (Ederson), the 2 most expensive full backs in history (Mendy and Walker), and 2 of the most expensive centre-backs in history (Aymeric Laporte and John Stones).

1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic - €69.5M (Barcelona)
2. Riyad Mahrez - €67.8M (Man City)
3. Aymeric Laporte - €65M (man City)

In second place we have current Napoli manager Carlo Ancelotti who was responsible for the first signing over €100M when he signed Gareth Bale from Tottenham in 2013. As well as that, Ancelotti was responsible at the time for the most expensive fee paid by a British club during his time at Chelsea where he signed Fernando Torres from Liverpool in January of 2011.

1. Gareth Bale - €101M (Real Madrid)
2. James Rodriguez - €75M (Real Madrid)
3. Fernando Torres - €58.5M (Chelsea)

Finally at number 1 we have Jose Mourinho, with his top 3 signings representing his Manchester United career rather well: with his relationship with Paul Pogba seeming to have an impact on him losing his job, Romelu Lukaku leaving Old Trafford after just 2 seasons, and Fred who has yet to make any considerable impact at United. Mourinho’s transfer record was much more impressive at Chelsea where he was responsible for signing the likes of: Adrii Shevchenko, Didier Drogba, Diego Costa as well as bringing both Angel Di Maria and Luka Modric to Real Madrid.

1. Paul Pogba - €105M (Man United)
2. Romelu Lukaku - €84.7M (Man United)
3. Fred - €59M (Man United)