| Updated: The 2025/26 European season has barely reached its halfway point, yet the transfer market is already in full swing. The latest headline move saw Pep Guardiola and Manchester City sign Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth for €72 million, another example of how much money top clubs are prepared to invest in new players.
On the back of that move, SportingPedia set out to identify which managers have commanded the largest transfer outlay over their careers, focusing on total spending on new signings rather than individual record deals. The resulting ranking brings together current club managers, national team coaches, sporting directors and even one retired legend, and shows just how much financial backing the game’s leading figures have attracted.
The data reveals that Pep Guardiola stands alone at the top with €2.58 billion spent on new players. The Spaniard is the only football manager to have crossed the €2 billion mark, but he soon will be joined by no other than Jose Mourinho, who is currently on €1.99 billion, needing just one deal to cross the barrier. Brazil’s head coach Carlo Ancelotti comes in 3rd position with €1.84 billion spent on players. A total of 17 managers have spent over €1 billion on transfers, with Everton’s David Moyes just shy of becoming the 18th such football manager, currently sitting at €0.99 billion spent. The list includes six figures currently away from traditional club dugouts: Ancelotti with Brazil’s national team, Thomas Tuchel with England, Mauricio Pochettino with the USA, Jurgen Klopp as a director at Red Bull, Erik ten Hag as a director at Ajax, and Arsene Wenger in retirement.
The Football Managers who have Spent the Most on Transfers (Billions)
Data Source: Transfermarkt
Pep Guardiola – Manchester City – €2.58 billion
Pep Guardiola sits clear at the top of the ranking with an estimated €2.58 billion spent on new players. Before taking over at Manchester City, where most of this spending has been concentrated, he managed =Barcelona and Bayern Munich, attracting major transfer backing at each step of his career.
Jose Mourinho – Benfica – €1.99 billion
Jose Mourinho is second on the list with €1.99 billion in transfer spending, just shy of the 2 billion threshold. Now at Benfica, he built that total across a long career that has included União de Leiria, Porto, Chelsea (two spells), Inter, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Tottenham, Roma and Fenerbahce, working almost exclusively at clubs prepared to invest heavily in their squads.
Carlo Ancelotti – Brazil national team – €1.84 billion
Carlo Ancelotti ranks third with a total of €1.84 billion. Currently coaching Brazil’s national team, he accumulated that figure during club spells at Reggiana, Parma, Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid (in two periods), Bayern Munich, Napoli and Everton, making him one of the most consistently backed managers in modern football.
Massimiliano Allegri – Milan – €1.60 billion
Massimiliano Allegri has overseen €1.60 billion in transfer spending, placing him fourth. Now back at Milan, he previously worked at smaller Italian clubs such as Aglianese, SPAL, Grosseto and Sassuolo before moving to Cagliari, Milan and Juventus (twice), picking up substantial transfer budgets once he reached Serie A’s elite benches.
Diego Simeone – Atletico Madrid – €1.55 billion
Diego Simeone sits fifth with €1.55 billion invested in new players. Still at Atletico Madrid, he began his coaching career in Argentina with Racing Club, Estudiantes, River Plate and San Lorenzo, plus a brief spell at Catania in Italy, before taking over Atletico in 2011 and gradually building a squad that has required sustained investment over more than a decade.
Antonio Conte – Napoli – €1.55 billion
Antonio Conte matches Simeone’s total of €1.55 billion spent on players. Now at Napoli, he previously managed Arezzo, Bari, Atalanta, Siena, Juventus, Italy’s national team, Chelsea, Inter and Tottenham, with several of those clubs giving him major budgets to reshape squads quickly in pursuit of trophies.
Manuel Pellegrini – Betis – €1.33 billion
Manuel Pellegrini has seen €1.33 billion spent on new players under his management. Currently at Betis, he built that total across a long career that has taken in Universidad de Chile, LDU Quito, San Lorenzo, River Plate, Villarreal, Real Madrid, Malaga, Manchester City, Hebei China Fortune and West Ham, combining spells at super-clubs with ambitious projects in Spain, England and beyond.
Unai Emery – Aston Villa – €1.31 billion
Unai Emery occupies eighth place with €1.31 billion in transfer spending. Now leading Aston Villa, he previously managed Lorca Deportiva, Almeria, Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, PSG, Arsenal and Villarreal, with heavy investment at clubs like PSG and Arsenal pushing his career outlay beyond the €1.3 billion mark.
Thomas Tuchel – England national team – €1.22 billion
Thomas Tuchel is ninth with €1.22 billion in transfer outlay. Currently in charge of England’s national team, he accumulated that figure through club roles at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund, PSG, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich, where boards repeatedly backed him with substantial budgets to tailor squads to his tactical demands.
Luis Enrique – PSG – €1.22 billion
Luis Enrique shares the same total as Tuchel on €1.22 billion and rounds out the top ten. Now at PSG, his previous managerial posts include Roma, Celta Vigo, Barcelona and Spain’s national team, with the Barcelona and PSG squads in particular contributing heavily to his overall transfer spending.
Nuno Espirito Santo – West Ham – €1.19 billion
Nuno Espirito Santo has accumulated €1.19 billion in transfer spending, placing him just outside the top ten. Currently at West Ham, he previously worked at Rio Ave, Valencia, Porto, Wolverhampton, Tottenham and Al Ittihad, with Premier League and Saudi Pro League budgets helping to push his total well above the €1 billion mark.
Mauricio Pochettino – USA national team – €1.15 billion
Mauricio Pochettino stands on €1.15 billion in new player expenditure. Now coaching the USA national team, he reached that figure through club spells at Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham, PSG and Chelsea, where long-term rebuilding projects and regular European qualification went hand in hand with sizable investment in the transfer market.
Jurgen Klopp – Director at Red Bull – €1.15 billion
Jurgen Klopp also has a total of €1.15 billion. Currently serving as head of global football for the Red Bull group, he previously managed Mainz 05, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, with his time at Dortmund and especially Liverpool accounting for most of the transfer spending attributed to his career.
Jorge Jesus – Al Nassr – €1.11 billion
Jorge Jesus appears next with €1.11 billion in transfer spending. Now at Al Nassr, he has held high-profile posts at Braga, Benfica (multiple spells), Sporting, Flamengo and Fenerbahce among others, building a reputation as a coach whose teams are regularly reinforced with expensive, ready-made signings.
Mikel Arteta – Arsenal – €1.09 billion
Mikel Arteta has already reached €1.09 billion in transfer expenditure, placing him fifteenth. Unlike most names on this list, his senior managerial career so far has been spent entirely at Arsenal, where a single, continuous project of rebuilding and strengthening the squad has been backed with close to €1.1 billion in new signings.
Eddie Howe – Newcastle – €1.08 billion
Eddie Howe follows closely with €1.08 billion in spending. Currently at Newcastle, he previously managed Bournemouth, Burnley and then Bournemouth again, but it is the recent phase at Newcastle, under ambitious ownership and with Premier League-level budgets, that has accelerated his rise into the €1 billion spending bracket.
Erik ten Hag – Director at Twente – €1.07 billion
Erik ten Hag sits seventeenth with €1.07 billion invested in players under his watch. Now a director at Twente, he built that total while managing Go Ahead Eagles, Bayern Munich II, Utrecht, Ajax and Manchester United, with his spells at Ajax and United contributing most of the transfer outlay associated with his career.
David Moyes – Everton – €0.99 billion
David Moyes has overseen €0.99 billion in transfer spending, narrowly missing the €1 billion mark but still ranking among the top 20. Back at Everton, he previously managed Preston North End, Manchester United, Real Sociedad, Sunderland and West Ham, with long Premier League service ensuring a steady accumulation of transfer investment over time.
Gian Piero Gasperini – Roma – €0.98 billion
Gian Piero Gasperini has seen €0.98 billion invested during his time as a manager. Now at Roma, he previously worked at Crotone, Genoa (two spells), Inter, Palermo and, most notably, Atalanta, where successive squad refreshes at Champions League level helped move his career spending close to the €1 billion threshold.
Arsene Wenger – FIFA Chief of global football development – €0.96 billion
Arsene Wenger closes the ranking with €0.96 billion in transfer outlay. Although retiring from the manager’s position in 2018, he remains one of the most heavily backed managers in history, having previously coached Nancy, Monaco, Nagoya Grampus and, above all, Arsenal, where more than two decades in charge at the highest level generated the bulk of his transfer spending total.