Five times football clubs paid record fees for a manager

While some of them have been successful, others failed to justify their price tag.

Football as a sport sees huge transfer fees paid to recruit the best players from the market. However, in the modern day, the same applies for football team managers. An outfit needs to dish out an immense amount of money if they aspire to appoint the best of the best managers in world football. This happens when there is a lack of availability of a preferred target due to sacking or end of contract.

The recent acquisition of Julian Nagelsmann by Bayern Munich for a record fee is testament to the fact that manager fees are ever-increasing. A football club must pay a fee in order to secure the services of a manager who is already under contract at another club. In this case, Nagelsmann was hired from RB Leipzig, where he was still under contract.

The Bundesliga outfit have paid a hefty amount to land the ambitious young manager, who has done an impressive job in the last few years. The potential move has brought attention towards the highest fee paid for managers. Here are the top-five:

Jose Mourinho - €8 million

Real Madrid had to shell out a huge amount to sway Jose Mourinho to join the La Liga outfit from Inter Milan. The Portuguese was at the top of his game in 2010, after winning the UEFA Champions League with the Serie A outfit.

Los Blancos paid a sum of €8 million to bring Mourinho to Spain. The Spanish giants did not want to waste any time in bringing the tactician to their camp, especially after how Mourinho emerged victorious against their arch-rivals Barcelona in the run-up to UCL triumph. The gaffer went on to win three trophies with Real before joining Chelsea in 2013. 

Rúben Amorim - €10 million 

Sporting Lisbon paid around €10 million to SC Braga in order to sign Ruben Amorim. The gaffer had a sensational record as manager at Braga, another side in the Primeira Liga in Portugal. He secured victory in 10 games for the outfit out of the 13 games he took charge of. He helped the side lift the Portuguese League Cup in 2019/20 and won the trophy again with his new employers.

Sporting Lisbon has always been a part of a dominant trio in Portugal's first-division alongside Benfica and FC Porto. However, they have yet to win the league since 2002. Therefore, the club showed huge ambition by appointing Amorim after paying a hefty fee to Braga. 

Brendan Rodgers - €10.5 million

Leicester City have been more consistent performers in the league since Brendan Rodgers took over from Claude Puel. The former Liverpool manager took charge of the Foxes in February of 2019 after winning 118 out of 169 matches with Celtic in Scotland.

The Premier League outfit had to pay the Scottish Premiership outfit €10.5 million to secure Rodgers’ services. The risky move seems to have worked in the favour of LCFC. They have more consistently challenged for a top-four Champions League place in recent years.

Andre Villas-Boas - €15 million

Andre Villas-Boas came to the Premier League on the backdrop of a treble winning season with FC Porto, which also included the UEFA Europa League. Chelsea had to pay the Portuguese club a sum of €15 million for their exceptional young manager. This until yesterday held the record for the highest fees ever paid to a manager by a football club.

However, the Portuguese did not find success at the London-based club. He became one of the many coaches who did not last a full season in the hot seat. He took charge of the team 40 times, winning 20 games, with drawing and losing 10 each.

Julian Nagelsmann - €25 million

The arrival of Julian Nagelsmann for €25 million at FC Bayern Munich will be a record for fees paid by a football club for a manager. The tactician will join his new employers after the current season has concluded. RB Leipzig have tasted a lot of success under the exuberant young manager. He is only 33-years-old, younger than Manuel Neuer (35 years), the skipper of his next club.

The German has earned a lot of praise for his entertaining style of football. His insistence on playing attacking football are one of his many assets. The tactician was still under contract with RB Leipzig. Following Hansi Flick's decision to step down from his role as manager at FCB, the club had to move swiftly to get a replacement. 

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