Being a Premier League head coach is one of the most intense jobs off of the pitch in world football. The stakes are incredibly high, and as the years have gone on, power has been stripped from what used to be the managers.
Now, decisions made well above the coaches determine much of their fate. Some get lucky with strategic transfer strategies, while others are forced to juggle the incomings of some 50 players over just three years.
While we all assume that Premier League coaches are compensated very well, the true figures for their wages, incentives, and bonuses aren’t made public.
So, without the more trusted outlets for other sports salary matters like Spotrac or Capology to refer to, the following is an even more speculative list of the highest-paid coaches in the Premier League for 2025/26.
Pep Guardiola, Manchester City (£20 million)
Pep Guardiola has been the key to Manchester City establishing a modern-day dynasty in the Premier League, reaching heights unseen since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
The Spaniard has always found himself surrounded by top-class players and plenty of cash to splash, be it in his first job at FC Barcelona, during his time with the Bavarian behemoths Bayern Munich, or now with Manchester City.
Even so, it takes a tremendous amount of leadership ability to guide the highest-paid players in the league, to get them to gel as a unit, and find their best possible roles within a very specific system.
Guardiola has certainly mastered this skill while getting his talented squads to play his way. Over 534 games on the touchline for City to date, he’s collected an average of 2.28 points per match.
For context, Ferguson put up 2.02 points per match in 1,499 games with United. So, it makes sense that Guardiola would get £20 million in wages per year to stand as the highest-paid head coach in the Premier League.
Now, even after their seemingly unstoppable romp of silverware hit the wall in 2024/25, Manchester City and Guardiola are very much in the mix in Premier League betting circles at 11/4.
Mikel Arteta, Arsenal (£13 million)
Having learned all that he could from his more seasoned compatriot, Mikel Arteta graduated from Pep Guardiola’s coaching team at City in 2019 to take on a huge project at Arsenal.
The Gunners have put a lot of faith in Arteta, gradually bringing in the pieces that would allow the system that the passionate coach evolved from Guardiola’s principles to challenge in the Premier League and Europe.
Over 290 games to date, and having had to build a functional team as a wholly green head coach, Arteta has done very well to average 1.96 points per game for Arsenal.
He’s brought the Gunners from eighth in 2019/20 and 2020/21 to Premier League runners-up in each of the last three seasons.
Commencing the 2024/25 season, Arteta signed a new three-year deal, which likely put him towards the top end of the highest-paid coaches in the Premier League list, possibly on £13 million per season.
The Arsenal board backs the boss and backs the project, investing heavily in some superb signings over the summer. Now seemingly with the tools to make it over that final hurdle, the online betting has Arsenal at 2/1 to claim the crown in 2025/26.
David Moyes, Everton (£12.5 million)
Desperate to stay in the top flight, on just three wins, and with a point between themselves and the drop zone, Everton turned to a familiar face who’d been let go by West Ham United over the summer.
On 11 January 2025, David Moyes once again took to the helm of the then-Goodison Park residents, looking to steady the ship, keep Everton in the league, and rekindle the magic that held him in the post for 518 games some 11 years ago.
At the time, Moyes said, “It’s great to be back – I didn’t hesitate,” which would make sense if the estimations of his £12.5 million per year salary hold up, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in the Premier League right now.
Spurred on by this huge boost to his net worth, Moyes kept Everton in the league with an impressive 1.48 points per game across all competitions – which is slightly weighed down by his 21st game, the first of this season, being a loss.
By comparison to the last five full-time coaches the Toffees have rolled through in recent years, that 1.48 is second only to Carlo Ancelotti’s 1.53, easily eclipsing Marco Silva’s 1.28, Sean Dyche’s 1.16, the 1.00 of Rafa Benítez, and the lowly 0.92 put up by Frank Lampard.
Unai Emery, Aston Villa (£8 million)
Speaking to the allure of the Premier League, the previous, and very successful, head coach of Valencia CF, Sevilla, Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, and Villarreal opted to join Aston Villa in January 2022, tasked with salvaging the season.
Just six wins at the halfway mark didn’t cut it for Steven Gerrard and his high-priced team. Emery came in and won 12 of the last 18 league games of the campaign.
He then vaulted the club to seventh and then to fourth in 2023/24, earning the Spaniard a new contract for possibly £8 million per year, landing him squarely among the highest-paid coaches in the Premier League for 2025/26.
Since then, he’s taken Villa to the Champions League quarter finals, secured sixth for the club last season, and now holds an average of 1.81 points per match. The only question is: how far can Emery can take Aston Villa?
Thomas Frank, Tottenham Hotspur (£8 million)
With 317 matches in the bag for Brentford and a stellar 1.51 points per match across all competitions, Thomas Frank was one of the natural top targets for any club thinking twice about their current head coach.
After winning the Europa League to bring Tottenham Hotspur their first trophy in 17 years, the rather high net worth owner, Daniel Levy, opted to sack Ange Postecoglou in favour of bringing in Frank.
According to estimates, this vaulted Frank from being in the lower-middle range of the top tier’s coach salaries to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with one of the highest-paid coaches in the Premier League.
The Danish tactician got off to a hot start with Spurs, impressing in the UEFA Super Cup and breezing to victory in their league opener, but expectations remain absurdly high at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, so he’ll have to earn every penny of his hefty salary.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*
*Odds accurate at time of writing - prices subject to change*
