The Premier League is able to attract the world’s best managers due to the salaries on offer, which begs the question – who is the top earner?
Coaches with winning experience in Europe’s top tiers like Oliver Glasner and Marco Silva have been attracted towards mid-table battles due to the riches that are on offer.
At the other end there’s the world’s best getting paid handsomely for excelling in their roles, whether that be Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Mikel Arteta at Arsenal, or Unai Emery with Aston Villa.
Even with Jurgen Klopp leaving Liverpool after nine years the Premier League still leads when it comes to the top end, and even the bottom.
Managers such as Thomas Frank and Kieran McKenna have earned big pay rises to continue their heroics at their current sides, helping them compete with bigger names when it comes to their pay packets.
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There’s also a number of new faces too. Arne Slot arrived at Liverpool and Enzo Maresca at Chelsea over the summer, and given the size of the clubs they’ve joined, a big pay rise is inevitable.
Not all salaries are known, with Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler, Leicester’s Steve Cooper and Southampton’s Russell Martin all on salaries either unavailable to the public or unreported.
But with so many new faces and a number of key extensions, talkSPORT is still able to give you the lowdown on where the rest of the pack rank.
17. Andoni Iraola – £1million per-year
Rated as the next big thing in Spain after three impressive years with Rayo Vallecano, Iraola was eyed by Atletico Madrid before Diego Simeone’s latest contract renewal, having promoted the Madrid minnows and made them a force in the top flight.
Bournemouth managed to land the Basque in 2023 and he started with plenty of pressure as many thought Gary O’Neill had been unfairly dismissed. That pressure only increased when he started without a win in nine games as Cherries boss.
Iraola turned things around dramatically, though, earning a 12th-place finish with some impressive football.
Bournemouth will certainly feel lucky to have him, making his placing as the lowest-earning coach on this list rather surprising.
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16. Gary O’Neil – £1.5m
Iraola’s Bournemouth predecessor got a raise after leaving the Vitality Stadium in 2023.
Rocking up at Wolves, O’Neil impressed in his first season as he showed he could step up having been an interim previously in his career.
Wolves would eventually finish 14th in O’Neil’s first season, but that doesn’t paint the full story with the Midlands side on the end of a number of botched VAR calls and apologies from the PGMOL.
15. Nuno Espirito Santo – £2m
Back for his third go at Premier League football with Nottingham Forest, Nuno’s time in England looked like it may be up after a short-lived seven month spell at Tottenham in 2021.
He left for Al Ittihad and the riches of the Saudi Pro League, but has since returned on a salary likely far lower than his previous two jobs.
Still, he looks to be proving that it was a price worth paying. Someone who achieved early success in his career with Porto and Valencia, the Portuguese is showing signs of his Wolves heroics where he unexpectedly took the team into Europe.
14. Kieran McKenna – £3m
Linked with both Chelsea and Manchester United during the summer, McKenna ended up staying at Ipswich and has been handsomely rewarded with a reported £3m per-year salary.
It’s easy to see why the Northern Irishman is being paid so well, given that he’s taken Ipswich from League One to the Premier League with back-to-back promotions. If he keeps them up he’ll likely jump up this list again.
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13. Julen Lopetegui – £3.4m
Back in the Premier League after a brief stint with Wolves, Lopetegui is the 13th-best paid coach on this list.
Given his illustrious CV that contains Real Madrid, Spain, Porto and Sevilla, the Basque may expect to be higher, but that doesn’t tell the full story of an up and down career.
11= Eddie Howe – £4m
One of the best signings of the Saudi era at Newcastle, Eddie Howe took the side from relegation trouble to the Champions League in impressive fashion.
Last season they struggled to keep up the pace with a league-leading injury and suspension list, but still finished seventh, showing Howe is well worth his pay packet.
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11= Marco Silva – £4m
Now in his fourth season with Fulham, Silva has turned the former yo-yo club into Premier League regulars and is pocketing £4m per-year for his heroics.
A trophy winner with Sporting Lisbon and Olympiacos, Cottagers fans have feared they’d lose their much loved Portuguese on many occasions, but he’s stuck around and again proved his worth, even with key losses like that of top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic.
10. Enzo Maresca – £4.2m
Given the chaos at Chelsea, it’s hard to begrudge Maresca of his salary, which comes on a typically lengthy five-year basis.
The club has gone through another bizarre transfer window, and now there’s talks of conflicts at the top. Maresca, though, seems to be getting on with his job calmly, and there’s hope the former Leicester manager can bring stability for the first time since Thomas Tuchel’s 2022 departure.
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8= Oliver Glasner – £4.5m
Having failed to adequately replace Roy Hodgson before, Palace didn’t mess about at the tail end of last season when they landed 2022 Europa League winner Glasner.
The Eagles had to pay a hefty sum of £4.5m to land the Austrian, but showed the Premier League’s pulling power, with not even the mighty Bayern Munich able to get him out of his Selhurst Park contract.
8= Thomas Frank – £4.5m
The fourth longest-serving manager in professional English football, Frank has undoubtedly earned pay rise after pay rise before reaching the £4.5m mark.
The man who finally got Brentford promoted, Frank has avoided relegation despite Ivan Toney’s ban last season and departure this season. With the Bees spending modestly in the transfer market, allocating their funds to the dugout has certainly worked out.
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6= Ange Postecoglou – £5m
Given his achievements at Celtic, Postecoglou wasn’t going to come cheap for Spurs and instead he’s costing them £5m.
A trophy winner with the Hoops, as well as numerous other sides, if the Australian ends Tottenham’s trophy drought, he’ll quickly be worth that pay packet.
6= Sean Dyche – £5m
On the face of it, Everton may be hoping to be close to sixth in the table, given they’ve got the sixth best-paid manager in the league, but that completely ignores the whole story.
Dyche’s first job since ending his decade at Burnley has been a nightmare on and off the pitch, but he’s still helped them overcome an eight-point deduction and has brought priceless experience to what’s looking like a poisoned chalice.
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5. Arne Slot – £6.2m
Slot’s predecessor, Klopp, would have been second on this list at £15m, but the Reds are certainly saving some cash with their first new manager in nine years.
The Dutchman boasts trophies and impressive football at Feyenoord and looked set for the Eredivisie title with AZ before COVID-19 ended the season. Nevertheless, his £6.2m per-year salary is still likely far less than alternatives Xabi Alonso and Ruben Amorim would have fetched.
4. Erik ten Hag – £6.75m
Signing a new contract in July in the most bizarre of circumstances, Ten Hag extended his stay at Manchester United despite the club interviewing other candidates for his job.
The fourth-highest earner in the league, his salary hasn’t necessarily corresponded with a fourth-place finishes, but coming in far cheaper than the likes of Jose Mourinho, he’s also added two trophies to prove his worth.
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3. Unai Emery – £8m
Aston Villa paid the big bucks to get Emery out of his Villarreal contract, but knew exactly what they were getting.
A four-time Europa League winner who picked up seven trophies with Paris Saint-Germain, Emery had a reputation above Villa’s current level, given they were in the Championship in 2019 and are trophyless since 1996.
The Spaniard instantly proved his worth, though, taking them from relegation danger to seventh, and then into the Champions League last season.
Even at £8m, Emery has a case as one of the most valuable coaches in Europe.
2. Mikel Arteta – £15m
Recently signing a new contract after making Arsenal Premier League title contenders once more, Arteta reportedly received a salary increase from £9m to £15m, putting him well clear in second place.
Despite picking up just an FA Cup and two Community Shields in his five seasons, the Spaniard has undoubtedly earned his stripes as one of the best managers in the world.
Revolutionising the Gunners’ squad and playing style, Arsenal are now one of the best sides in Europe, and it’s thanks to their manager.
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1. Pep Guardiola – £20m
What more is there to say about Guardiola?
Manchester City did everything to land the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager in 2016 and haven’t regretted it for a second.
A six-time Premier League winner, which includes an historic European treble in 2023, Guardiola is firmly in the conversation as the greatest coach of all-time, making his £20m salary a relative snip.
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