The 10 highest spending football managers since Pep Guardiola joined Man City in 2016

Since joining Manchester City in 2016, Pep Guardiola has been the highest-spending football manager on the planet and by quite some distance.

Guardiola inherited an ageing squad in 2016-17 and immediately spent over €190million in his first season, signing the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane, John Stones, Claudio Bravo and Gabriel Jesus.

In his debut season, City finished third in the Premier League and trophyless, but it wasn’t long until Guardiola found his flow in England .

During his second season, he spent another €280million signing the likes of Ederson, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Aymeric Laporte.

This was arguably Guardiola’s best-ever transfer window, as the majority of his signings that season went on to have long and successful careers at the club.

With a new spine in place, City romped the Premier League , winning it with a record 100 points.

After 2017–18, Guardiola’s side then went on to win five of the next six league titles, in which time they spent over €970million on new players.

Over the past 18 months, it’s fair to say that City have hit the buffers, but their spending has continued to increase during that time.

Following the recent arrivals of Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, Guardiola could theoretically field an entire starting XI worth £415million, only using players that he’s signed since last January.

– Friday, 16 January 2026

As per Transfermarkt, Guardiola has spent a whopping €2.05billion since joining Man City , which is far more than any other manager.

In total, he’s purchased 67 players during his time at the club, with the average cost of a player at €30.5million.

The closest manager to matching Guardiola’s spend during that time is Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone, who has spent €1.22billion since 2016-17.

Simeone himself is the highest-paid manager working today and the bulk of his spend went on the likes of Joao Felix, Julian Alvarez and Thomas Lemar.

Along with Guardiola and Simeone, there are seven other managers who’ve spent over €1billion since 2016.

Those managers are Antonio Conte, Massimiliano Allegri, Thomas Tuchel, Unai Emery, Mikel Arteta, Erik ten Hag and Eddie Howe.

Surprisingly, Nuno Espirito Santo rounds off the top 10, having spent more than the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho and Luis Enrique since 2016-17.

There’s no denying that Guardiola is the best manager of his generation, but it’s also true that he’s had way more financial support than the vast majority of managers.

Here’s the full breakdown of the highest-spending managers from across world football since Guardiola arrived at Man City , using figures provided by Capology.

1. Pep Guardiola – €2.05billion 2. Diego Simeone – €1.22billion 3. Antonio Conte – €1.19billion =4. Massimiliano Allegri – €1.17billion =4. Thomas Tuchel – €1.17billion 6. Unai Emery – €1.13billion 7. Mikel Arteta – €1.09billion 8. Erik ten Hag – €1.07billion 9. Eddie Howe – €1.01billion