Find out who the highest-paid Premier League managers are for the new season – from Pep Guardiola to Mikel Arteta, which managers have the biggest salaries in the 2025/26 season?
We often hear in the media of the big salaries being paid to the Premier League’s star players, or their wage demands and payable bonuses when it comes to transfers and player moves. However, we hear far less of the salaries paid to one of the most important cogs of any football club regardless of the club’s global standing – the manager.
Premier League’s Highest-Paid Managers
It is fair to say that in the modern game, the role of the manager can be considered as important as the star players on the pitch. With the Premier League being home to some of the best and most respected coaches in world football, it is hardly surprising then to discover that their salaries reflect their standing on the world stage.
| Manager | Club | Wage per year |
| Pep Guardiola | Manchester City | £20m |
| Mikel Arteta | Arsenal | £10m |
| Unai Emery | Aston Villa | £8m |
| Ruben Amorim | Manchester United | £6.5m |
| Arne Slot | Liverpool | £6.2m |
| David Moyes | Everton | £5m |
| Thomas Frank | Tottenham | £5m |
| Daniel Farke | Leeds | Unknown |
| Oliver Glasner | Crystal Palace | £4.5m |
| Enzo Maresca | Chelsea | £4.2m |
| Marco Silva | Fulham | £4m |
| Eddie Howe | Newcastle | £4m |
| Regis Le Bris | Sunderland | Unknown |
| Nuno Espirito Santo | Nottingham Forest | £2m |
| Andoni Iraola | Bournemouth | £1m |
| Vitor Periera | Wolves | £1m |
| Scott Parker | Burnley | Unknown |
So, who are the best-paid managers in the Premier League?
PEP GUARDIOLA
It probably won’t surprise anyone to learn that the highest earner in the Premier League is Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola. Guardiola’s salary of around £20 million reflects both his unparalleled record and his influence on the club’s long-term success.
Since the Spaniard joined Manchester City in 2016 from Bayern Munich, he has transformed the club into a dominant force, winning multiple league titles, domestic cups, and the Champions League.
Some might argue – and perhaps correctly – that Guardiola has largely bought his success at City with its’ oil-rich owners bankrolling their manager season after season to attract the best players to the club.
MIKEL ARTETA
Second in the list of the best-paid managers in the Premier League is Pep Guardiola’s one-time lieutenant, Mikel Arteta, whose managerial rise to the top of the tree has been rapid.
A former assistant to Guardiola at Manchester City, he returned to Arsenal – a club he once played for – as head coach in 2019 and the Spaniard has overseen a remarkable turnaround in the club’s fortunes following several years in the wilderness following the end of Arsene Wenger’s reign.
While Arsenal may lack the financial clout of Manchester City or Liverpool, Arsenal have nonetheless become serious title contenders under Arteta’s stewardship, blending young talent with tactical maturity and some astute signings.
Arteta’s salary is estimated in the range between £10 and £15 million annually, which places him among the elite managers of world football, and his stock is only likely to increase further, especially if bringing Premier League success back to the Emirates.
UNAI EMERY
Another Spaniard in the list, Unai Emery, was Mikel Arteta’s predecessor at Arsenal, although his reign lasted only two seasons before being dumped from the club. From there, Emery rebuilt his tarnished reputation at Villareal before returning to the UK, this time pitching up in Birmingham at Aston Villa.
Emery’s appointment at The Villans has been nothing short of transformative for the Birmingham-based club. He has guided the club into European contention, including a Champions League place, which justifies his annual salary of about £8 million.
It is also a sign of the club’s growing ambition to challenge the traditional top sides with Villa very much looking a sleeping giant about to wake.
RUBEN AMORIM
Although Amorim’s tenure at Old Trafford has been relatively brief so far, with the Portugese manager only arriving at Manchester United midway through last season, he did arrive with a big reputation as one of the brightest young coaches in Europe.
Amorim has faced no easy task in attempting to resurrect the fallen giants whose decline since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson has been nothing short of alarming. However, Amorim is known for his tactical flexibility and modern style, and despite a sticky start to life in Manchester after succeeding Erik ten Haag in the Old Trafford hot-seat he is seen as a long-term solution for United.
With an estimated salary in the region of £6.5 million, Amorim’s hefty paycheck reflects both the size of the club and the expectation placed upon him to restore United to former glories.
ARNE SLOT
Highly-regarded Dutch coach Arne Slot was chosen to succeed Jurgen Klopp when the German chose to end his time on Merseyside after the 2023/24 season.
Given the legacy left behind at Anfield by Klopp, Arne Slot’s task to maintain Liverpool’s stature as one of the top clubs not only in the Premier League but also in Europe is a daunting one. However, the former Feyenoord coach is no stranger to delivering domestic success, as he proved in his homeland, and Slot delivered Liverpool their first Premier League title since 2019/20 season in his debut season on Merseyside.
With an annual wage of just over £6 million, it is clear Slot carries the confidence of the club to consistently deliver not just domestically but also on the European stage.
Mid-table Salaries still sizeable
While the top five names above command salaries that represent not only their personal reputations as elite coaches in the game, but also reflect the demands of their role and the trust given to them by their paymasters, the managers of those clubs that are considered to be outside the title race as Premier League also-rans are also taking home eye-watering salaries that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
Although no longer in the role, one-time Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglu earned around £5 million per year at the North London club. Despite a difficult two years at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Australian coach’s attacking philosophy delivered the club victory in the UEFA Conference League Trophy, the club’s first silverware in 17 years.
That success wasn’t enough to keep Postecoglu in his position, however, and following their worst-ever Premier League campaign, where they finished 17th, he parted ways with the London club at the end of the 2024/25 season.
Everton’s David Moyes, one of the game’s elder statesmen with a wealth of experience to call upon, also takes home an estimated £5 million per year. Currently at Everton following stints at West Ham, Manchester United and abroad, Moyes is regarded as a safe and steady hand for clubs who might be more used to battling relegation than challenging for honours.
Oliver Glasner, coach of Crystal Palace, also commands around £5 million per year despite the club being relatively unfashionable and one of arguably London’s lesser lights in the Premier League when compared to Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs.
That hasn’t stopped Glasner steering his side to FA Cup glory in his first full season as head coach following his appointment midway through the previous campaign to succeed Roy Hodgson, and there would be no great surprise to see the astute Austrian coach go on to deliver further silverware.
Even those managers who are at the helm of relegation-threatened clubs in the Premier League can command salaries around £1-£1.5 million per year, showing that even clubs outside those considered to be the Premier League big guns now have the financial muscle to compete for top managerial talent.