Top five best unemployed managers in Europe right now

Some of these tacticians have won multiple silverwares in their career.

In football, the best players or managers are often appointed by the top teams because of what they bring to the game. As a result, the absolute top quality players never remain free in the transfer market and the managers are often seen preferring ambitious projects in the elite clubs.

However, the cut-throat competitiveness of football along with the sheer pressure managers face from the management of a top-level football club, many have opted against managing despite being at the height of their game. Some others have been sacked by their former clubs and are still mentally preparing for the road ahead.

Here are the best unemployed managers in football right now.

5. Luciano Spaletti

A veteran of Italian football, Luciano Spaletti has seen it all happen in Serie A over the last two decades. The 61-year-old has had famous tenures at AS Roma, winning them the Coppa Italia twice in the 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons.

His last managerial stint was at Inter Milan, whom he helped qualify for the Champions League after the 2018/19 season and left a pretty solid base for Antonio Conte build upon. Since being sacked by Inter in 2019, the tactician remains unemployed and is still awaiting his next challenge – be it in Italy or somewhere else.

4. Frank Lampard

It wasn’t much long ago that Frank Lampard was sitting at the Chelsea dugout, motivating players and trying to help them compete with top sides. However, things turned sour for him as this season went along and with Chelsea’s top-four dreams fading away, he was sacked at the end of January.

Having managed a club of Chelsea’s stature for nearly two seasons and with his work at Derby County, Lampard can be easily considered as one of the top employed managers right now. After the setback of being let go by the Blues, it remains to be seen where the Englishman ends up going in the next chapter of his career.

3. Ernesto Valverde

Ernesto Valverde’s career at FC Barcelona was a very topsy-turvy ride that ended in chaos. The Spaniard managed to keep the Blaugrana at the top of La Liga for multiple seasons, helping them win the La Liga title in 2017-18 as well as the 2018-19 season in a dominant fashion. However, despite winning everything in Spain, his inability to take them to the summit of the Champions League ultimately cost Valverde his job.

He was sacked by Barcelona in January 2020 after a series of poor results, even though he finished his Barca stint with a 66.9% win-rate. Valverde remains unemployed by any club for more than a year and is still awaiting the call of another big club to get back on track in his managerial career.

2. Maurizio Sarri

The Italian has had an admirable career as a manager but only came under the spotlight in recent years. Sarri emerged as one of the profound tactical minds in European football with his work with Napoli, where his Sarriball – which involved a distinct possession-based playing style – gathered a big reputation.

Sarri had a bittersweet stint as the manager of Chelsea – helping them win the Europa League. He then became the Juventus manager and even won the Serie A – only to be sacked the season after. Following his departure from Juve last year, Sarri awaits his next destination and is likely to take over as the manager of a prominent club in the summer.

1. Massimiliano Allegri

From one Italian manager to another, but Massimilian Allegri has been on the sidelines for even more time than Sarri. Indeed, the former brilliant Juventus manager has been biding his time for a long time and waiting for the perfect club to take over as a manager. It’s not like his CV is holding back the Italian boss. In his six seasons at Juve, he guided them to six consecutive Serie A titles and won them four Coppa Italia trophies as well.

It was only the lack of a coveted Champions League which eventually caused the Old Lady to let him go. Allegri is reportedly looking to manage in the Premier League next, but being unemployed for nearly two years now, it doesn’t seem the Italian is that worried about being unemployed anyhow.

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