Potter and the most expensive manager transfer fees

Karan Tejwani

• 9 Sept 2022 08:30 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea have confirmed the appointment of Graham Potter as their new head coach as they quickly moved to find a replacement for the sacked Thomas Tuchel.

The Blues had their sights set on Potter as their top candidate to replace Tuchel following their difficult start to the campaign, and they’re hoping to pick up some positive results.

Tuchel was believed to have a difficult relationship with the relatively new Chelsea hierarchy, and a decision was made to sack him after a poor start to the season.

Chelsea have lost games against Leeds United and Southampton in the league, while their Champions League campaign started off with a defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.

Chelsea spend big on managers

Now, with Potter, they have big ambitions and they spent big to get their man as well, paying out £15 million to Brighton to get him out of his contract and handing him a five-year deal worth £12 million-per-season.

The £15 million fee is the second-highest ever paid for a manager, putting Potter in some esteemed company alongside Europe’s exciting coaches.

The highest fee ever paid was in 2021, when Bayern Munich paid £21 million to get Julian Nagelsmann from RB Leipzig, after an impressive few years with the Red Bulls.

Potter now sits in second, replacing Andre Villas-Boas, who his current employers paid £12.6 million for to get him from Porto back in 2011, after an impressive treble of the league, cup and Europa League that year.

Behind him is Brendan Rodgers, who Leicester City signed from Celtic for £8.8 million, while Ruben Amorim’s £8.4 million move from Braga to Sporting rounds off the top five.

There are two Jose Mourinho moves after that – one after his move to Real Madrid from Inter, which was worth £6.7 million, and then the one from his move from Porto to Chelsea, worth £6 million.

Rodgers follows him once again – his move from Swansea City to Liverpool cost the Reds £5.2 million, similar to the fee Manchester City paid Blackburn Rovers for Mark Hughes.

Rounding off the top 10 is Manuel Pellegrini’s £3.5 million move from Villarreal to Manchester City, with Carlo Ancelotti’s move from PSG to Los Blancos now the eleventh most expensive managerial transfer ever.