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#6 Marcelo Bielsa (Leeds United) - £8 million
Marcelo Bielsa is one of the most experienced managers in the Premier League. The Argentine tactician had managed clubs in five different countries before landing the Leeds United top job in 2018, in the process becoming the highest-paid manager in the club's history.
The appointment almost had an immediate effect as Leeds nearly grabbed one of the two automatic qualifying places for the Premier League. A season later, Bielsa's men gained automatic qualification to the Premier League with two games to spare.
A day before Leeds' first Premier League game in 16 years, Bielsa was awarded a contract extension that would keep him at the club till the end of the season. The Argentine downplayed the development and instead said that Leeds 'deserved to be in the Premier League'.
"It isn't of importance. I have been working 100 per cent since we were promoted. The club, the fans, the players, they all deserve to be playing in the Premier League."
Leeds impressed on their much-awaited return to the English top-flight, netting against champions Liverpool thrice on the opening day of the season before falling short in a seven-goal thriller.
In their next game, Leeds celebrated their first Premier League win in almost two decades after beating Fulham in another four-goal thriller.
#5 Brendan Rodgers (Leicester City) - £10 million
Brendan Rodgers is one of the most experienced managers in the Premier League.
Under his tutelage, Swansea became the first Welsh club to play in the English top flight in 2011, Rodgers won his first Premier-League-Manager-of-the-Month award in January to catch the attention of Liverpool.
Rodgers led the Anfield club to a seventh-placed finish in his first season in charge before a 11-game winning run took them to the cusp of their first Premier League title in 2013-14, with Liverpool leading by five points with three games remaining.
However, a calamitous Steven Gerrard slip sparked a stunning implosion: Liverpool lost 0-2 at home to Chelsea and blew away a 3-0 lead at Crystal Palace with just 11 minutes remaining to finish runner-up behind Manchester City despite scoring 101 goals in the season.
Rodgers left after an underwhelming start to the next campaign before returning to the Premier League three years later when he took over the reins of Leicester City in February 2019.
Under the former Liverpool manager, Leicester City played a refreshing brand of attacking football, winning seven games in a row to sit second in the Premier League table after 15 games.
Rodgers was rewarded with a contract extension that would keep him at Leicester till 2025 even as the Foxes ran out of steam and missed out on a Champions League place on the last day of the season following a defeat to Manchester United.
Leicester City have won both games of the new Premier League season to lead the fledgling league table as Brendan Rodgers became the 23rd manager to record 100 wins in the competition.
“We won't be getting carried away. We stay calm, it's only the second game. We hope to get better as the season goes on. How we finished in terms of league position last season was great, and we want to build on that. We aim to be competitive with the talent we have,” Rodgers said after Leicester's second win of the season.
Under the Northern Irishman, the Leicester faithful have every reason to believe.
#4 Carlo Ancelotti (Everton) - £11.5 million
Everton pulled off a coup when they managed to land Carlo Ancelotti as their first-team manager.
The Italian has one of the most decorated managerial resumes among any active manager in the game. Ancelotti, one of only three men to win three Champions League titles, also has experience in the Premier League.
In the Italian gaffer's first season in English football in 2009-10, Chelsea became the first team to score 100 goals in a season. The Blues beat Manchester United by a point to the Premier League title as Ancelotti became the first Italian manager to win the competition.
However, a second-place finish next season saw the Italian relieved of his duties, and it would be eight long years before he would be back in English football.
In the intervening period, Ancelotti led Real Madrid to their much awaited La Decima in the Champions League before replacing Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich where he won the Bundesliga title in both seasons. After a season and a half at Napoli, Ancelotti was back in the Premier League with Everton.
The Italian's magic didn't work in the half season he was in charge as Everton finished a lowly 12th in the Premier League table.
With the club getting in the likes of Allan, James Rodriguez and Abdoulaye Doucore in the summer, things look bright for Everton who have won their first two games of the new season to jointly lead the league table with Leicester City.
"We want to make progress. The position last season was not enough. 'We want to improve and we are trying to do everything to improve the squad to be better next season," said Ancelotti after the signing of Allan.
With the much-decorated Ancelotti at the helm, the Toffees have every reason to believe that good things are around the corner as they look to return to Europe next season and perhaps break into the top four.
