Football managers’ transfer spend revealed as Chelsea bosses dominate top ten

PEP GUARDIOLA has spent more money than any other manager in history.

The Manchester City boss took his overall spend to £1.7billion with big buys such as Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol – who was the most expensive Premier League arrival from overseas.

Matehur Nunes and Jeremy Doku also arrived at the Etihad for big sums from Wolves and Stade Rennais respectively.

Guardiola has not been afraid to splash the cash since arriving at City with the Spaniard bringing in the likes of Erling Halaand and Ruben Dias.

He broke the British record to land Jack Grealish, though Arsenal’s acquisition of Declan Rice has since surpassed that deal.

Since 2016 Guardiola has spent more than £1bn in charge of the Citizens on more than 50 players.

In recent years he has overtaken Jose Mourinho to take top spot, with the Portuguese seeing his transfer spend decrease while at Tottenham and Roma.

But there was a time when the Special One was given free rein to wave his chequebook around Europe, particularly while he managed Manchester United.

Paul Pogba was signed for then world record transfer fee worth £90million, while Romelu Lukaku and Fred almost broke the bank too.

Mourinho also spent big at Chelsea, who have funded several managers in the top ten list.

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Third place Carlo Ancelotti had access to Roman Abramovich’s generosity for two years though the Italian was also given plenty of funds at PSG, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

Ancelotti has had two spells with the Spanish giants and their lavish spending shows no signs of slowing down with £115m Jude Bellingham joining in the summer.

Two other former Chelsea managers are included in the list – Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel, who was responsible for signing Lukaku for £100m.

The German was the beneficiary of Todd Boehly’s extravagant spending last summer when the likes of Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling and Wesley Fofana arrived for expensive fees.

Current Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino places ninth in the rankings thanks to the Blues buying Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia in the summer, amongst others.

Pochettino was given opportunities to spend at Tottenham too, on occasion, with Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso both arriving for fees north of £50m in his final summer in charge.

Elsehwere in the top ten list Massimiliano Allegri and Diego Simeone are the only managers present who have not graced the Premier League.

Simeone has spent the majority of his career at Atletico Madrid, a club not famed for their spending, although Joao Felix cost an astronomical £113m.

Former City and West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini comes in at sixth place – the Chilean delivered a Prem title after signing the likes of Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne.

However he had one of the biggest spends in a single summer in 2009 when Real Madrid signed Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka with Pellegrini at the helm.

Jurgen Klopp sits last in the top ten but he could rise up the rankings if Liverpool’s summer spend is anything to go buy.

The Reds signed four players for around £150m, taking the German’s career spend to £973m – but it will not be long until he breaks the £1bn barrier.