10 managers who have spent the most money on transfers since 2000
As football became a very lucrative business over the past two decades, more money has been made available to top managers to ensure they can compete with the best and realise the club’s ambitions of winning trophies. To a certain extent, it has increased the gap between the top clubs and those below them but that is pretty much the law of the football jungle – only the strong (read as rich) survive.
Since 2000, we have seen a number of world class managers do well on a consistent basis and win trophies across Europe. But they have been aided by huge transfer budgets at their disposal. We look at 10 active managers who have spent the most in the market to sign players.
10) Massimiliano Allegri: £494m
Major clubs managed: Sassuolo, Cagliari, AC Milan, Juventus
Manager since: 2003
Trophies won: 8
Record transfer: Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli to Juventus) – £76m
After playing in the lower leagues of Italy, Max Allegri moved into management in 2003 with Aglianese where he had retired as a player. But it wasn’t until he helped Sassuolo gain promotion that he was noticed. Cagliari was the first Serie A club that signed him on and despite being a weaker club, his attacking style won him plaudits and a remarkable ninth-place finish saw him pick up the award for Best Coach in Serie A despite Jose Mourinho winning the league with Inter.
AC Milan soon signed him and he won them their last Serie A title in 2010/11 – before the domination of Juventus. It was also a time when the old and reliable core of Milan retired and left the club en masse. However, he was criticised for allowing Andrea Pirlo to leave for free as the midfielder signed with Juventus and won four Serie A titles.
When Antonio Conte took over the Italian national team, Juve looked to Allegri as the most capable choice and he has taken Conte’s side a level further by succeeding where Conte had failed – in Europe. Apart from winning consecutive league titles, they have now reached two Champions League finals in three years.