Maresca's £17m Man City move ranks third in manager compensation history

Manchester City are on the verge of appointing Enzo Maresca as head coach after reaching a verbal agreement with Chelsea over a compensation fee of £17.26m (€20m), a figure that would place the Italian third on the all-time list of most expensive managerial appointments in football history.

Maresca, 46, is set to replace Pep Guardiola on a three-year deal from the 2026/27 season. The fee arises because Maresca resigned from Chelsea despite being contracted at Stamford Bridge until June 2029, entitling his former club to compensation should he join a rival.

The two clubs had been locked in protracted negotiations for several weeks after Chelsea threatened court action over allegations that Maresca had been tapped up. Lawyers on both sides eventually brokered a settlement, with the matter resolved amicably and without litigation.

At £17.26m, Maresca sits just below the joint-record holders: Graham Potter, who cost Chelsea £21.58m (€25m) when he left Brighton in 2022, and Julian Nagelsmann, who commanded the same figure when Bayern Munich prised him from RB Leipzig in 2021. Maresca’s fee also surpasses the £13.8m (€16m) Real Madrid paid Inter Milan to land Jose Mourinho in 2010, a move long regarded as a landmark in managerial transfer fees.

Chelsea feature prominently across the historical list. The club paid a comparable sum to appoint Andre Villas-Boas, only to sack the Portuguese coach eight months into his tenure in 2012. Chelsea’s incoming manager Xabi Alonso also triggered a £12.95m (€15m) buyout clause at Bayer Leverkusen for his move to Real Madrid, though he departed before completing a full season.

Elsewhere on the list, Bayern Munich’s £10.36m (€12m) outlay to sign Vincent Kompany from Burnley has proven a sound investment: the Belgian has delivered back-to-back Bundesliga titles. Manchester United’s Ruben Amorim does not appear for his Old Trafford appointment, but his earlier move from Braga to Sporting does feature, as does Brendan Rodgers’ £8.9m switch from Celtic to Leicester.

If the reported figures are confirmed, Maresca’s appointment will stand as one of the most significant — and costly — managerial moves in the sport’s history, underlining both City’s ambition in the post-Guardiola era and Chelsea’s determination to be compensated for losing a coach they had committed to long-term.