- Chelsea appointed Italian coach Enzo Maresca as their new manager on Monday
- The Blues paid £10 million in compensation to Leicester to acquire Maresca
- The Plymouth job will make or break Wayne Rooney’s career It all starts podcast
The significant amount of money Chelsea have spent on signing managers since 2000 has been revealed.
The Blues appointed Enzo Maresca on Monday as they removed Leicester’s Italian coach after he led the Foxes to the Championship title.
Maresca becomes the 19th manager to lead Chelsea since the turn of the century, with several big names having stepped up to the plate at Stamford Bridge.
To lure the former Juventus, Sevilla and West Brom midfielder away from the East Midlands, Chelsea have paid out £10 million in compensation.
This took their total spend on managers from 2000 to date to £55.5 million and Maresca became the fourth most expensive management acquisition of all time in the process.
Chelsea paid Leicester £10 million in compensation to appoint Enzo Maresca as their new boss
It takes Chelsea’s total spend on managers since 2000 to £55.5m, with Graham Potter’s move from Brighton in September 2022 costing the Blues £21.5m in compensation.
Graham Potter’s move to Stamford Bridge from Brighton comes second on that list, behind Julian Nagelsmann’s £21.9m move from RB Leipzig to Bayern Munich.
Chelsea paid out £21.5 million in compensation for Potter and some of his coaching staff in September 2022.
Meanwhile, Andre Villas-Boas’ ill-fated reign at Stamford Bridge did not come without costs, after the Blues spent £13.3 million to get him out of Porto.
Villas-Boas was not the first Portuguese manager to leave the Primeira Liga club for Chelsea. Jose Mourinho arrived in this way for his first spell in 2004.
Chelsea spent £13.3m on signing Andre Villas-Boas from Porto as manager in 2011
Jose Mourinho’s first appointment at Chelsea in 2004 cost just £1.7 million in compensation
However, it was claimed at the time that Mourinho was a relative bargain as Chelsea would have spent just £1.7 million to sign him from Porto.
In more recent times, Maurizio cost Sarri £5 million when he joined the club from Napoli, although the Blues managed to recoup £10 million in compensation when the Italian joined Juventus the following year.
Elsewhere, Frank Lampard’s return as Derby manager earned Chelsea £4m, with the former midfielder and club icon staying in the role for 18 months.
However, Chelsea did manage to be more economical in other areas.
The appointments of Claudio Ranieri, Avram Grant, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez, Roberto Di Matteo, Jose Mourinho for his second spell, Antonio Conte, Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino did not cost the club a cent in compensation.
The likes of Ray Wilkins, Steve Holland and Bruno Saltor also had short spells in charge of Chelsea.
