No debate after a managerial sacking is complete without at least one voice reminding everyone of the large sums clubs often pay to recruit and release managers.
Some argue that the fees paid for managers pale in comparison to the amounts spent on players, pointing out that the boss is theoretically the most important person on the playing side of the club.
But as can be the case with transfers, clubs often end up being mocked for the effort and expenditure they invest in enticing managers whose reigns prove to be ill-fated.
From Jose Mourinho and Brendan Rodgers to Julian Nagelsmann and Graham Potter, here are the costliest managers ever employed.
Most expensive manager of all time
Eleven days before Graham Potter was sacked in April 2023, Brighton & Hove Albion published an annual financial report showing that the club had recorded a £24.1 million profit – a striking turnaround from their £50.4 million loss during the previous year.
Part of the reason for that was the fee Chelsea paid for Potter and his backroom staff when they moved to Stamford Bridge in September 2022, as well as the world-record sum for a fullback - potentially rising to £63m - they spent on Albion's reigning player of the season, Marc Cucurella, the previous month.
The accounts confirmed the exact figure involved in a deal that had been widely reported at the time as the highest amount ever paid for a manager's services.
However, the total may have fallen just short of the record set by Bayern Munich's move for Julian Nagelsmann in 2021.
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Biggest fees paid for a manager: how much have coaches cost?
Chelsea spent £21.5m on Potter and his backroom staff. Assistant head coach Billy Reid, Potter recruitment sidekick Kyle Macaulay, highly respected goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts and first-team coaches Bjorn Hamberg and Bruno Saltor all joined Potter, the latter becoming Chelsea interim head coach after Boehly lost faith.
When Bayern hired Nagelsmann from RB Leipzig, the dominant force in German football spent a reported 25 million euros (£21.9m) on the man who remains seen as one of the best young coaches in Europe.
Nagelsmann was surprisingly sacked in March 2023 when Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn said the decision had been made because the quality of their squad had "come to the fore less and less often."
Bayern struggled for form during the first three months of 2023 but remained in the UEFA Champions League and were favourites to triumph in the Bundesliga, which they won during Nagelsmann's first season in charge.
True to their vast-spending form since 2003, Chelsea can claim the third-most expensive managerial signing of all time in Andre Villas-Boas, who joined them from Porto for £13.3m in 2011 and lasted marginally longer than Potter.
A defeat to West Bromwich Albion as part of a run that saw them manage just three wins in 12 Premier League games put paid to Villas-Boas, another highly rated emerging coach who had once been a scout for Jose Mourinho.
Chelsea legend Mourinho does not rank among the five most expensive head coach signings in history. Former Blues manager Brendan Rodgers is fourth for his £8.8m switch from Celtic to Leicester City in February 2019, going on to lead the Foxes to an FA Cup win and European football before being sacked by the Foxes on the same day as Potter was by Chelsea.
Rodgers was one of the managers among the five most expensive who could perhaps claim to have justified their fee. Fifth-placed Ruben Amorim is another: since leaving Braga for Sporting for £8.4 million in 2020, the former Portugal international has guided his side to a league title among three major domestic trophies, won the Primeira Liga Manager of the Season and orchestrated a UEFA Europa League knockout stage victory at Arsenal.
Most expensive football manager ever: who ranks where?
Mourinho does feature twice in the 11 most expensive, while Rodgers' move from Swansea City to Liverpool in 2012 cost the Reds more than £5m.
Manchester City broke the record at the time when they recruited Mark Hughes for a short-lived tenure between 2008 and 2009. Premier League clubs account for eight of the most expensive 11, including Chelsea's brief employment of Maurizio Sarri.
| Manager | From | To | Joined | Left | Fee |
| Julian Nagelsmann | RB Leipzig | Bayern Munich | April 2021 | March 2023 | £21.9m |
| Graham Potter | Brighton | Chelsea | September 2022 | April 2023 | £21.5 |
| Andre Villas-Boas | Porto | Chelsea | June 2011 | March 2012 | £13.3m |
| Brendan Rodgers | Celtic | Leicester | February 2019 | April 2023 | £8.8m |
| Ruben Amorim | Braga | Sporting | March 2020 | N/A | £8.6m |
| Jose Mourinho | Inter | Real Madrid | May 2010 | May 2013 | £6.9m |
| Jose Mourinho | Porto | Chelsea | June 2004 | September 2007 | £5.2m |
| Maurizio Sarri | Napoli | Chelsea | July 2018 | May 2019 | £5m |
| Ronald Koeman | Southampton | Everton | June 2016 | October 2017 | £5m |
| Brendan Rodgers | Swansea | Liverpool | June 2012 | October 2015 | £5m |
| Mark Hughes | Blackburn | Man City | June 2008 | December 2009 | £5m |
Biggest manager payoffs: how much have sackings cost?
The 10 most expensive managerial payoffs in history make even more painful reading for Chelsea, who have spent more than £70m paying off four of the richly rewarded figures involved.
Potter would reportedly have been entitled to around £50m had his full five-year, £190,000-a-week contract been paid off – but he is said to have settled for around a quarter of that.
Mourinho is thought to have pocketed almost £54m from his severances with Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and - for a second time - Chelsea.
Antonio Conte was reported to have agreed a £4m exit from Spurs in March 2023, which was almost a seventh of the amount he raked in for leaving Chelsea.
| Manager | Club | Dates | Payoff |
| Antonio Conte | Chelsea | June 2016 – July 2018 | £26.6m |
| Jose Mourinho | Man United | May 2016 – December 2018 | £19.6m |
| Jose Mourinho | Chelsea | June 2013 – December 2015 | £18m |
| Laurent Blanc | Paris Saint-Germain | June 2013 – June 2016 | £17m |
| Jose Mourinho | Tottenham | November 2019 – April 2021 | £16m |
|
Nuno Espirito Santo |
Tottenham | June 2021 – November 2021 | £14m |
| Luiz Felipe Scolari | Chelsea | July 2008 – February 2009 | £13.6m |
| Fabio Capello | Russia | July 2012 – July 2015 | £13.4m |
| Thomas Tuchel | Chelsea | January 2021 – September 2023 | £13m |
| Graham Potter | Chelsea | September 2022 – April 2023 | £13m |
