10 Biggest Manager Payouts in Football History

In football, the arrival of a new manager often brings about an exciting, feel-good atmosphere – a spark of hope that a new era of glory could be just around the corner. Clubs, fans, and players alike revel in the anticipation of a fresh start, yet, in the harsh world of modern football, managerial dreams can be fleeting, given the intense pressure to succeed and the razor-thin margins between success and failure. This means that clubs sometimes move on from managers almost as quickly as they arrive.

The departure of a manager doesn’t always end with a handshake and a goodbye; many clubs are forced to pay substantial severance packages, some of which are record-breaking. Failure evidently carries a hefty price tag, and GIVEMESPORT has taken a look at the ten most expensive managerial exits in football history, including the likes of Jose Mourinho and Graham Potter with Chelsea dominating the list.

10 Graham Potter (Chelsea)

Payout: £13 million

Todd Boehly’s exuberant spending sprees at Chelsea have not been limited to just on-field investments. Former Brighton boss, Graham Potter, was appointed in place of Thomas Tuchel to lead the BlueCo-owned project in London, and despite a decent start with six wins in 11, a disastrous turn of form meant the Englishman was fired just eight months after signing a contract.

In addition to the already-hefty £21.5 million fee paid to Brighton to sign Potter in the first place, the Blues coughed up another £13 million to terminate his contract. It was a significant outlay which ultimately amounted to more steps back in the project than forward.

9 Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea)

Payout: £13 million

The sacking of Graham Potter at Stamford Bridge only looks even more of a catastrophe given that the man he replaced, Thomas Tuchel, was also sacked for a fee in the region of £13 million. The German was far from an unpopular figure at Chelsea, though. He won the club’s second ever Champions League title in 2021, and maintained impressive league form throughout his tenure.

It was an eventual fallout with the hierarchy, partly related to transfer decisions, which saw Tuchel dismissed just a month into the 2022/23 season. He likely wasn’t too fussed about the debacle, and understandably so, given his take-home earnings. He’s not done badly since either, now taking charge of England.

8 Fabio Capello (Russia)

Payout: £13.4 million

Many will affiliate Champions League winner, Fabio Capello, with his tenure as England manager, but that wasn’t the only underwhelming spell as a national team head coach on his CV. In July 2012, the Italian was appointed as manager of the Russian national team, but it was largely quite forgettable from then on.

In an ideal world, Capello would have stuck around until the 2018 World Cup, but a dismal performance in the 2014 instalment, in which Russia crashed out in the group stages, meant that by 2015, he was dismissed from his role. Fortunately for him, with a significant duration still remaining on his agreement, he managed to earn a lofty £13.4 million from the failure.

7 Luis Felipe Scolari (Chelsea)

Payout: £13.6 million

The man who led Brazil to their iconic 2002 World Cup triumph, Luis Felipe Scolari, somehow wound up at Stamford Bridge in 2008. Given his managerial spells prior were all either international, or outside of Europe’s major leagues, it was certainly an odd appointment from the Blues, and it would only be around eight months before he inevitably departed.

A £13.6 million payout does make it all seem worth it for the Brazilian, who had already admitted that the financial prospects of managing Chelsea were key in his decision to come to the Premier League.

6 Nuno Espirito Santo (Tottenham)

Payout: £14 million

Nuno Espirito Santo’s stint as Tottenham manager was quite a roller coaster, to say the least. After achieving the best start to a Premier League season in the club’s history, with three wins in three, including a victory against reigning champions, Manchester City, the former Wolves boss scooped up the Manager of the Month award and briefly had his side top of the table.

What followed after was shockingly dire – after a dismal five losses from seven, Spurs dropped from first, down to ninth, and the manager was sacked less than four months after his arrival. The damage was detrimental not just on the pitch, but also on the club’s finances, as the north London side were forced to fork out £14 million just to see the back of the Portuguese man.

5 Jose Mourinho (Tottenham)

Payout: £16 million

After years of trophy drought, Tottenham turned to the highly-touted Jose Mourinho, who boasted an impressive track record of winning a trophy at every club he has managed since 2002. It looked as though that day would finally come for the club too, as the former Champions League-winning head coach had guided his players to the EFL Cup final in 2021.

However, just days before the tie, Spurs took the brave, but rather peculiar, decision to sack Mourinho, even paying a compensation of around £16 million to end his tenure. Fans were left confounded, and the side’s loss in the final that followed did not help make sense of anything either.

4 Laurent Blanc (PSG)

Payout: £17 million

Although he managed three consecutive Ligue 1 titles and a plethora of accompanying domestic trophies, Laurent Blanc’s performances as manager of Paris Saint-Germain evidently weren’t enough to convince the club’s top brass. It was likely the repetitive underperformance in the Champions League which ultimately saw his time with the Parisian outfit come to an end, having failed to make it past the quarter-finals for three consecutive years.

Despite having penned a two-year extension in February 2016, Blanc was dismissed from his role just months later in June of that year, with local reports detailing a severance deal in the region of £17 million.

3 Jose Mourinho (Chelsea)

Payout: £18 million

For what was quite the polar opposite to his more recent stint as Tottenham manager, Mourinho’s first spell at Chelsea saw him win six trophies in three years and set multiple outstanding records, some of which still hold to this day. In fact, it was at Stamford Bridge where he earned the mantle “The Special One”, after his iconic interview response:

This made his eventual sacking in 2007 quite a surprise, and many players were reportedly in tears after his departure. Nonetheless, Mourinho made his return to Chelsea in 2013, where he coached for another two years.

2 Jose Mourinho (Manchester United)

Payout: £19.6 million

Back for his third appearance on this list, and his most expensive one yet, Mourinho took home an eye-watering £19.6 million after Manchester United decided to part ways in 2018.

After winning league titles with Chelsea for the second time, the Red Devils thought they may have been able to achieve a similar shot at glory after appointing Mourinho in 2016. While that wasn’t to be, the Portuguese legend did bring the side up to a second-place finish and also delivered Europa League glory, alongside a couple of domestic trophies during his time at Old Trafford.

1 Antonio Conte (Chelsea)

Payout: £26.2 million

It looked rather impossible for a poor Chelsea side that was lingering in tenth place to make any sort of effort towards a title challenge, but Antonio Conte’s appointment in 2016 would soon go on to make history. After winning the 2016/17 Premier League title with two games to spare, many may have thought that this would be the start of an era of dominance for the Blues.

But after finishing fifth the season after, things looked messy at Stamford Bridge, especially given the friction growing between Conte and the club’s hierarchy. The Italian was eventually sacked, but it was far from straightforward for the club, who were charged a record £26.2 million in paying off compensation to Conte.

Statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt and The Sun – Correct as of 29/10/2024