Bayern Munich set to make Julian Nagelsmann the most expensive football manager ever

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:39 CDT
• 5 min read

Julian Nagelsmann is set to become the most expensive manager in the history of the sport after agreeing terms to join Bayern Munich next season. 

According to German newspaper BILD, the RB Leipzig head coach has turned his attention away from rumours linking him with Tottenham Hotspur already agreed to join the Munich giants in the summer. 

However, with a contract at Leipzig until 2023, Bayern won’t be able to hire Nagelsmann as their ideal Hansi Flick replacement unless they can agree on a compensation fee to pay their domestic rivals. 

Reports in Germany believe this fee could prove to be extremely high for a head coach and end up costing Bayern as much as €30 million before they’ve even handed Nagelsmann his first monthly pay slip. 

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How does Nagelsmann compare to the most expensive managers in history?

While European clubs happily throw a huge amount of money at players every season, it’s still quite rare for a club to spend a large chunk of their budget to hire a new manager. 

Although that’s not to say that there haven’t been some notable examples of clubs being forced into offering up a transfer fee for their manager of choice. 

Almost a decade ago Liverpool turned heads and raised a few eyebrows when they handed over a reported €6.2m to break Brendan Rodgers free of his long-term contract at Swansea City in 2012. 

READ MORE: Why Arsenal need to sign Emile Smith Rowe up to a long-term deal

Another notable example of a club putting their money where their mouth is would be when Real Madrid made Jose Mourinho the most expensive manager in history in 2010 when they hired the Portuguese coach just a few months after he had just won the Champions League with Inter. That, reportedly, cost the Spanish giants €8m at the time. 

However, the coach that still holds on to the title of being the most expensive in the manager in the history of the sport until Nagelsmann’s move to Bayern goes through is Andre Villas-Boas, who broke all sorts of records when Chelsea offered €15m to Porto for who they believed to be one of the most promising coaches in Europe at the time.