Often I wonder what would happen if high-profile, top-spending managers were forced to manage for small, budget-minded sides. Wouldn’t this be a fun exercise? I see it in my dreams: Louis van Gaal slumming it in on a Thursday night in Ligue Deux, scouting unknowns like Riyad Mahrez instead of delivering briefcases of cash to PSV-Eindhoven for lab-sculpted Memphis Depay. Arsene Wenger taking over recently-bankrupt League 2 side Portsmouth and trying to teach the boys about the benefits of going to the French opera. Jose Mourinho choosing between signing Peter Crouch or Steven Caulker on loan because he doesn’t have the luxury of sending the Chelsea private plane for Thibaut Courtois. Oh, the joy that would emanate from press conferences on English Championship grounds if this was the world…
I bring this up because recently the Guardian published a list of the ten managers who have spent the most money on players in the past ten seasons (based on a bit of research done by Grup14, a Barcelona supporters site). Most of the managers on the list of top-spending managers have strong ties to the Premier League, which makes sense because England’s top tier is the richest on the planet. So, now, we evaluate. Was it worth it, club owners? Did you get everything for which your managers made you shuck out the cash?
The Top-Spending Managers In The Last 10 Seasons
10. Sir Alex Ferguson - £281m
Top signings:
- £30m – Dimitar Berbatov
- £28m – Juan Veron
- £27m – Rio Ferdinand
The most successful Premier League manager of the past 30 years did it in a cheaper era (I say this like it was decades ago) so this number is a bit deceiving. Still, though, Ferguson got some of the best players of the powerhouse United era on the cheap or they came up through the ranks of the club. Michael Carrick for £18 million in 2006. Phil Jones for £17 million. Ashley Young for the same. David de Gea for £19 million. These are all nice, subtle, longevity-seeking signings. United’s core was stable in these years - Scholes, Giggs, Neville, Ferdinand, Keane, Rooney - which is something you really cannot say for the club’s roster since his retirement in 2013. He won four domestic titles and a Champions League with that crew, and when he plucked Robin van Persie from Arsenal for £22 million in 2012, he won his fifth and final Premier League championship before riding off. He continues to observe the fire from afar, the safest place. He got a lot (and a knighthood) for his money.
Rooney, by the way, signed with United for £20 million in 2004, just outside the ten-year boundaries of the rules. That’s a cashmere-on-the-clearance-rack-type bargain.
Related: Ferguson Reveals The Only 4 World-Class Players Ever To Play At Manchester United
9. Brendan Rodgers - £287m
Top Signings:
- £32.5m – Christian Benteke
- £29m – Roberto Firmino
- £25m – Adam Lallana
One of the brightest British managers of the last decade is on this list – and out of a job – mostly because of Liverpool’s aimless spending in his three years at the helm. Nearly £300 million in three years is an astounding, sad number. Lallana barely played because of injury and fitness issues, as well as Rodgers unwillingness to let him. Benteke now seems the odds-on favorite to be shipped off in this window. Firmino’s been OK, I suppose. And then there are the myriad of mistakes a bit farther down the list: Joe Allen is a perpetual backup for £15 million. Mario Balotelli is back in Italy for £16 million. Where the hell is Lazar Markovic for £19.8 million? (Answer: On loan at Fenerbahce.) Dejan Lovren (£20 million) looked at times in Rodgers’s tenure like the worst center-back in the whole league.
And what did nearly £300 million get Liverpool? One dream season that slipped short, three Champions League matches at Anfield, and a firing. Really it is sad that Rodgers didn’t get more time. His signings this offseason were practical and look solid so far. But, hey, Jurgen Klopp’s the manager now! Rejoice and sing praises, for the German has arriv—wait, Daniel Sturridge is still hurt? Wait, everyone’s hurt? Wait, 2-2 draw at Exeter City?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Related: Brendan Rogers Is The Most Productive Premier League Manager
8. Arsene Wenger - £333m
Top signings:
- £42.5m – Mesut Ozil
- £35m – Alexis Sanchez
- £16m – Santi Cazorla
Now here’s some “budgeting.” Ten full years as Arsenal’s boss, spending just a bit more than Liverpool in three seasons of Rodgers. Years and years of frugality in such a free spending league has meant no domestic league titles. Perpetual third- and fourth-place finishes have frustrated Gunner supporters, but the signings of Ozil and Sanchez have boosted Arsenal to the top of the Premier League once again. They’re twice-defending champions of the FA Cup, no small feat. They’re the class of England at the moment, joint-favorites with Manchester City to win the Premier League title again.
Related: Arsene Wenger's Transfer Decisions Will Shape The Premier League Season
7. Louis van Gaal - £337m
Top signings:
- £59.7m – Angel di Maria
- £36m, rising to £57.6m – Anthony Martial
- £31.5m – Luke Shaw
Because United are playing dreadful football (aesthetically) this season, it’s easy to forget how accomplished the Dutchman has been in the past ten years. His AZ team won the Eredivisie in 2008-09 by running 28 matches unbeaten. Bayern Munich won a domestic-cup double in his first season in charge (2009-10). He took an old, seemingly down-and-out Netherlands side to within a Messi of its second-straight World Cup final. I mean, this dude can coach. Which makes what’s happening right now even more perplexing. Like, what the hell is going on behind the scenes at United? For that matter, what happened at Chelsea behind locks? We need a book about this Premier League season.
Related: Everyone Hates Louis van Gaal
6. Rafa Benitez - £376m
Top signings:
- £34.5m – Gonzalo Higuain
- £22.6m – Danilo
- £22.5m – Mateo Kovacic
Benitez, the guy hobbling around with the Madrid-sized boot up his butt, has had odd patterns of success. He’s won as many domestic titles in his career as European titles. In the last ten seasons, he’s managed Liverpool, Inter, Chelsea (interim), Napoli, Real Madrid, and now manages no team. But – and this is true! – Benitez hasn’t won a domestic league championship since 2004. That’s a big load of money for a Europa League win and nothing else.
Related: Real Madrid’s Head Coach Reveals The Best 11 Players He Has Ever Worked With
5. Pep Guardiola - £382m
Top signings:
- £40m – Zlatan Ibrahimovic
- £35m – Cesc Fabregas
- £34.2m – David Villa
Outside of Atleti’s Diego Simeone – who’s so badass he couldn’t be bothered to be in the club with the cool kid managers – Pep’s the best bang-for-your-buck spender. He’s only managed since 2008, but in that time, his Barcelona side became one of the most dominant in history with three straight La Ligas, a Copa del Rey, and two Champions League titles. He hasn’t duplicated that thrilling immediate success with Bayern Munich, but I’d bet a few beers on Bayern to ride the Bob Train to a treble in 2016.
Related: Why Pep Guardiola And Manchester City Are Perfect For Each Other
4. Roberto Mancini - £441m
Top signings:
- £40m – Sergio Aguero
- £27m – Edin Dzeko
- £25m – Samir Nasri
This one surprised me, although maybe it shouldn’t have. Mancini oversaw the oil-fueled resurgence on the blue side of Manchester after winning three straight Serie A titles with Inter (there was also a firing in the middle there, but whatever). He bought Jerome Boateng for £10 million, David Silva for £24 million, Yaya Toure for £24 million, and Aleksandar Kolarov for £16 million. Then he bagged those big three signings – Nasri, Dzeko, and Aguero, that gem – and broke the Manchester City curse. Was one title worth that many millions? I’d bet many on that side of Manchester would say yes. I would say, “That’s nice, now show me what you’ve done in Europe.”
Related: Player Headshots Roberto Mancini, Who Takes It Like A Champ
3. Carlo Ancelotti - £466m
Top signings:
- £85m – Gareth Bale
- £63m – James Rodriguez
- £50m – Fernando Torres
These numbers are getting truly ridiculous at this point. Ancelotti, one of the two best unemployed managers in the world, won a Champions League title with Inter, a domestic-cup double with Chelsea, a Ligue 1 title with PSG, a Champions League and Copa del Rey (and Super Cup and Club World Cup) with Madrid before being coldly removed from his position in 2015. That’s a lot of success, and shows how quickly a good manager can end up without a job. But maybe that’s not enough success if you forget that other clubs also spend hundreds of millions on players and, you know, try to win.
Related: Carlo Ancelotti Backs Chicharito
2. Manuel Pellegrini - £597m
Top signings:
- £80m – Cristiano Ronaldo
- £54m – Kevin De Bruyne
- £49m – Raheem Sterling
Pellegrini’s past ten seasons are strong indicators that he should be in the conversation for one of the top three or four managers in the world. He’s taken Villarreal to second in La Liga (a virtual miracle) and the semifinals of the Champions League. He brought Ronaldo to Madrid, along with Karim Benzema (£30 million), Xabi Alonso (£30 million), and Kaka. But he lasted only one season because he was bounced from the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, and lost La Liga to Barcelona even though Madrid’s 96 points would have been an all-time record for the league (Messi and Pep, lol).
Back down in the somewhat low-budget ranks again, he set a Málaga club record for points in a season (58) and led the club to the Champions League, where they were four minutes away from a spot in the semifinals (note: awesome German broadcast call at that link).
Now at Manchester City (perhaps only for a few months longer?), Pellegrini spent more on Sterling and De Bruyne and has a chance to win City’s second Premier League title in his three seasons. Also (City fans will hate me for this) a spot in the Champions League quarterfinals looks likely (Dynamo Kiev is the opponent in the round of 16). It does seem as if Pellegrini has spent wisely and set City up well for the future, but will it be Pep’s future?
Also, in an unrelated and paraphrased note, Martin Tyler once said on a broadcast that Pellegrini likes good food, good wine, and good culture, and then he paused, as if leaving out the “but we don’t have that here, so he’ll probably go back to Italy soon.”
Related: Watch This Freestyler Turn Man City’s Youngsters Into A Bunch Of Screaming Kids In Two Seconds
1. Jose Mourinho - £619m
Top signings:
- £32m – Diego Costa
- £30m – Andriy Shevchenko
- £30m – Willian
This is no real surprise. Mourinho has managed steadily for the past ten seasons at huge clubs with high expectations and loads of money to spend: Chelsea, Inter, Madrid, Chelsea again. Look at these spending numbers from just his first few months in charge of Chelsea in 2004:
- Michael Essien £24 million
- Didier Drogba £24 million
- Ricardo Carvalho £19.8 million
- Paulo Ferreria £13.3 million
- Tiago £10 million
He broke the Chelsea domestic curse of 50 years, won a second title in a row, two League Cups, and an FA Cup in three seasons. At Inter, in two seasons, he won Serie A twice, won the Coppa Italia, and won the Champions League before leaving for Madrid. Coupled with Ronaldo and all that Real cash, Madrid won the Copa del Rey for the first time in nearly two decades, and set a European single-season points record (100) en route to a La Liga demolition. Then in stint number two at Chelsea, he won the League Cup and Premier League title before his players sabotaged him (I’m a Mourinho truther) and caused his firing.
Related: Did Chelsea's Players Really Get Jose Mourinho Fired?
Four big clubs. He won every domestic trophy he could in three years or less at each place. He won Europe. He was never boring. Now that, to me, is worth the cash.
Grant Burkhardt is on Twitter @grantburkhardt and you can email him about the footie at burkhardt@the18.com
