Everton’s search for a new manager continues apace this week, with the surprise name of Diego Simeone thrown in to the much more homegrown pot of Sean Dyche, Sam Allardyce, Craig Shakespeare and David Unsworth.
Simeone, under contract at Spanish giants Atletico Madrid until 2020, appears to the odd man out in that list, but his inclusion is not as surprising as it might be when measured against his coaching equals from recent years.
A look at the Champions League Semi Final line-ups from 2012-16 is telling.
Only 3 coaches who were in charge of teams in those games do not currently coach in the Premier League. One is Zinedine Zidane, who is probably only going to coach one team, his beloved Real Madrid. Another is Manuel Pelligrini, who was sacked by Manchester City to make way for Pep Guardiola, and the other is Diego Simeone.
The other coaches, Jose Mourinho, Jorgen Klopp, Antonio Conte and the aforementioned Pep are all currently employed by top Premier League teams. And there is a reason, in the same way that the best rugby players mainly play in France or England, or the best cricketers are desperate to play in the IPL. Money.
Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are not in perennially-wet-and-grey Manchester to top up their tans. Even though Liverpool are still one of the world’s biggest clubs, despite their failure to keep up with the big money investors of Manchester City and Chelsea, manager Jorgen Klopp chooses to stick it out in the northwest. Mauricio Pochettino of Tottenham is being courted by Real Madrid, but suddenly, isn’t that tempted. Why wouldn’t a Spanish speaker be eager to work for arguably the biggest club in the world? A Spanish speaking one at that. Money.
Reportedly, Diego Simeone’s salary at Atletico is only $3m a year. Not a bad salary for the average guy, but if we compare it to Guardiola’s $24m at City, it doesn’t look that big after all. Across the city at Manchester United, Jose Mourinho is picking up a steady $17m. Even the deposed Ronald Koeman who was at perennial underachievers Everton was doubling Simeone’s wages with a sizable $6m.
It’s not just the mangers’ salaries that are dwarfed by the Premier League wages. The wage bill of the Premier League is more than that of La Liga and Serie A combined. Players’ wages have gone through the roof since the launch of the Premier League in 1992. Back then the average annual wage was £77,00 per year. Today’s average Premier League wage is £2.3m.
So, Everton might not be the European force they once were under Howard Kendall, but a move to Goodison Park would give Simeone a chance to not only test himself in the toughest league in the world, but also earn big money. Everton have new investment waiting to be spent for the right man. Simeone could create something big and lasting at Everton. Something the Everton fans have been desperate for for over 30 years now. And who knows, a move from the sunshine of Madrid to the harsh greyness of northwest of England might just tempt the Argentine.
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