#3 Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool) - £15m
Jurgen Klopp became only the tenth manager in history to win the Premier League title when Liverpool won their first English top-flight title in three decades last season. Not surprisingly, he is one of the three-most well paid managers in the Premier League.
The Klopp project at Anfield commenced in October 2015, with Liverpool making steady progress under the German tactician after narrowly missing out on the Premier League title under Brendan Rodgers in 2013-14.
Under Klopp, who is a two-time Bundesliga winner with Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool play a brand of high-pressing attacking football as their two full-backs Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold tirelessly blaze down the flanks to add bite to their attack while also fulfilling their defensive responsibilities.
In Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool have arguably one of the best attacking triumvirates in world football while in Virgil Van Dijk, they have one of the best centre-backs in the game.
Last season, Klopp's men waltzed to the Premier League title with several games to spare as competitors fell by the wayside.
With rival teams significantly strengthening their squads, Liverpool could face an uphill task to defend their title but Klopp sounded upbeat about his team's chances this season.
"We will not try to defend it, we will try to attack the next one.That's the truth, you don't change your approach. That is what we always did and there is no reason for changing it. Motivation will not be our problem. I know this team will not stop trying. I don't expect everything to happen for me, I never expected it, but I expect I will give absolutely everything and I expect the boys to do that as well."
Under Klopp, Liverpool are one of the teams to beat in the Premier League and the Anfield faithful have every reason to believe that the club's maiden Premier League triumph was not a flash in the pan.
#2 Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur) - £15 million
Jose Mourinho is one of the most decorated managers in the Premier League. The Portuguese tactician is one of only three men to have won three Premier Leagye titles.
The three-time Premier League winner (with Chelsea) was back for his fourth stint in the Premier League when Tottenham Hotspur handed him the reins of their first-team after the departure of their long-serving erstwhile manager Mauricio Pochhetino.
Following his arrival in November, Mourinho notched up his 300th Premier League win as a manager but Tottenham failed to finish in the top four.
The Lilywhites have started the new campaign with a win and a defeat as they look to return to Europe's elite next season.
“We don't need much. We don't need many players. We don't need huge investment. That's not our profile as a club. With or without COVID, with or without Champions League, so I think we will manage to improve our squad which is what we want,” Mourinho said at the start of the season.
Under Mourinho, one of the shrewdest tacticians in the modern game, Tottenham might have one of the best in business to help them realise their ambitions and also end their long title drought in all competitions.
#1 Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) - £20 million
Pep Guardiola is one of the most skillful managers in the modern game who has delivered success wherever he has gone. Not surprisingly, he is the most well-paid manager in the English top flight.
After delivering Barcelona's first continental treble en route to a plethora of titles in a hugely successful stint at Camp Nou, Guardiola scripted more success at Bayern Munich before arriving in the Premier League as the manager of Manchester City in 2016.
The Spanish tactician missed out on the league title in his first season in charge at the club, but City romped to back-to-back Premier League titles in the next two seasons while breaking a slew of records along the way.
Guardiola, who failed to achieve a three-peat last season as Liverpool left every other team trailing in their wake, will be itching to get back to winning ways as he looks to join an exclusive group of managers to have won three Premier League titles.
“I would love to stay longer here. To extend the contract, I have to deserve it and we are going to see if I deserve it this season, in terms of how the team goes forward and improves. I know the standards of this club, and I have to win and deserve to extend my contract,” Guardiola said at the start of the new season.
City started the 2020-21 season with a 3-1 win at Wolves as they seek to overtake high-flying Liverpool to the Premier League title. Under Guardiola, who has won more matches in his first 150 games than anyone else in the League's history, City know that they have the right man at their helm.