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While sky-high salaries are for Premier League players, the managers are not short a quid or two with annual deals into the millions.
High-profile departures such as Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot mean there are some new names creeping into the best-paid managers in the league, including the latest Nottingham Forest manager.
These are all based on reports so don’t shoot the messengers…
The top 10 best-paid managers in the Premier League
10) David Moyes – Everton (£5m)
With Everton facing the drop, Moyes was able to negotiate a significant wage to take over the Merseyside club once again.
He justified it by steering them away from the relegation zone and into midtable safety but there is now the question of whether he is able to make that next step.
9) Michael Carrick – Manchester United (£6.5m)
There’s no doubt that Carrick was the cheapest option available for Manchester United, so it must have pleased the bean-counters when United’s form under his tenure gave them no option but to hand him a permanent contract.
Should the manager of Manchester United earn half as much as the manager of Nottingham Forest? Now that’s a question.
8) Eddie Howe – Newcastle United (£9m)
Having taken over when the club was in the midst of a relegation scrap, Howe has proved good value for his salary and turned Newcastle United into a team capable of consistently qualifying for the Champions League.
He delivered the club’s first trophy in decades, something every fan would say was worth £9m a year, but there are – for the first time – real question marks about whether he can take the club to the next level.
A disappointing league campaign, highlighted by two defeats to newly promoted rivals Sunderland, combined with a humiliation at the hands of Barcelona, mean Newcastle are already having a very difficult 26/27 and losing key players.
7) Unai Emery – Aston Villa (£9.5m)
Considering where Aston Villa were when he took over and where they are now, Unai Emery is worth every penny of that £9.5m.
The club were relegation candidates when he arrived in October 2022 and are now consistent Champions League qualifiers and he has secured silverware too.
PSR has kept a ceiling on the club breaking through that next barrier but it’s easy to imagine they would be a lot lower with the Spaniard at the club.
6) Andoni Iraola – Liverpool (£10m)
Somewhat surprisingly, Iraola is commanding a bigger reported salary than actual Premier League winner Arne Slot, but it’s a big old hike on his Bournemouth wages.
4=) Roberto De Zerbi – Tottenham Hotspur (£12m)
Tottenham’s situation left them in a terrible negotiating position when they approached Roberto De Zerbi but even with that in mind, the deal seems very generous.
De Zerbi is being paid £12m but as he is the man who kept the club up, Spurs will look at it as money well spent. For now.
He has a five-year deal but is not a manager with a history of sticking around and so it could be a costly decision should the need to sack him arise.
4=) Enzo Maresca – Manchester City (£12m)
Manchester City are obviously saving some money with the exit of Pep Guardiola, who was earning £20m a year as the highest-paid manager in the Premier League.
Maresca has signed a very lucrative though suitably less lucrative contract as he becomes manager of City.
2=) Xabi Alonso – Chelsea (£13m)
Liverpool’s hesitation is Chelsea’s gain as Alonso agreed to move to Chelsea rather than an Anfield reunion.
The announcement of him being the manager rather than head coach appeared a sign that the Chelsea hierarchy was changing their ways and Alonso has commanded a significant fee to join.
Reports suggest his salary is at £13m a year, which makes him more expensive than Liverpool’s new coach Andoni Iraola.
2=) Oliver Glasner – Nottingham Forest (£13m)
After a season being linked with the biggest jobs in Europe after two trophy-laden seasons at Crystal Palace, the Austrian has taken a step down the Premier League to become Nottingham Forest’s fifth manager in a year.
That kind of decision obviously requires sweeteners and that £13m salary (reported by The Sun) is a hell of a financial sweetener for Glasner, but it has bought Forest the kind of manager they have no right to employ after last season’s farrago.
1) Mikel Arteta – Arsenal (£15m)
With the departure of Pep Guardiola and his £20m salary, Arteta moves into the number one spot with his £10m plus £5m for Champions League football deal.
Questions over whether he can bring major trophies to Arsenal have been answered and with his current contract set to expire next year, an extension with an increased pay packet seems likely.
It will be just rewards considering how much he has improved the club since taking over in December 2019.
At that time, Arsenal were an ill-disciplined joke who finished fifth under Unai Emery; Arteta’s biggest achievement has been changing the mindset around the club.
Good but troublesome characters like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were moved on and Arteta created arguably the strongest defence in the world.
