Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola is one of the most successful manager in the history of the game. Which adds up – no other manager in history has spent more than him.
According to Diario AS, Guardiola is the only coach to have broken the €2b spend mark, with €2.04b being spent on player transfers under his watch, divided over 78 deals. Of that total, €342m pertains to his time at Barcelona, while €205m was spent at Bayern Munich. The total spend at City is thus €1.493b.
Roma Manager Jose Mourinho is second with €1.86b, while Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti is third with €1.69b. Juventus’ Max Allegri has spent €1.4b, while Diego Simeone has racked up a bill of €1.21b during his time in charge of various teams, but for the most part, his 12 years at Atletico Madrid.
Real Betis’ Coach Manuel Pellegrini’s spell at City no doubt aided his entry into the top 10, placing sixth with a spend of €1.2b.
Diego Simeone is the manager with the best sales pitch in the history of football.
During his 12 years in charge of Atletico Madrid, Los Colchoneros have made €1.075b across 74 sales, more than any other manager. (Diario AS). #AtleticoMadrid pic.twitter.com/lICxZdtXTV
— Football España (@footballespana_) September 14, 2023
Incidentally, many of the those appearing in the biggest spend section are also present in the largest sales section. Simeone tops that with a total sales figure of €1.075b, while Leonardo Jardim is second with total sales amounting to €999m. Guardiola is third after him, he has sold €978m worth of players.
Naturally, transfer fees are just one metric and wages are becoming a much larger part of the bill for clubs to foot, but it does show the incredible sustainability that Simeone has brought to Atletico Madrid over the last decade. In total, he is at a loss of €135m over that period, a figure that will be made into significant profit taking into account marketing, ticket sales and prize money earned during his time in Madrid.
