Antonio Conte is not leaving Tottenham quietly, but at least Spurs won't have to pay a world record compensation fee to get rid of him.
With just a few months left on a contract which runs out at the end of the season, Conte won't command an enormous fee should, as expected, he be dismissed from his role.
The Italian pocketed a staggering £26.6million when he was let go by Chelsea ahead of the 2017-18 season, just one year after agreeing a new contract with the club.
Indeed, Chelsea figure highly when it comes to sacking their managers in the most expensive ways possible, with Spurs also holding their own.
Here are the top 10 most expensive sackings ever:
10. Andre Villas-Boas, Chelsea (£12m)
Chelsea spent big money to bring in Villas-Boas from Porto in 2011, with the manager arriving off the back of a Europa League victory. He was supposed to help the Blues thrive at home and on the continent after Carlo Ancelotti's dismissal, but ultimately lasted less than a year in charge.
The Portuguese coach left with the club at risk of finishing outside the top four, with their hopes in that season's Champions League hanging by a thread. However, Roberto di Matteo's success in Europe may have left Abramovich feeling he made the right decision to pull the plug.
9. Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham (£12.5m)
Pochettino received a reported £8.5m when he was dismissed by Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the 2021-22 season. That pales in comparison to the sum he received from Spurs a few years earlier, though.
Ironically, it was Villas-Boas' sacking in north London which led to Pochettino's arrival, with the Argentine taking over after Tim Sherwood's caretaker spell. He took the team from also-rans to Champions League finalists, but was dismissed just 18 months into the five-year deal he signed in May 2018.
8. Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea (£13m)
Prior to last season Tuchel was reported to be closing in on a new deal as Chelsea manager. Things quickly turned sour, though, with new owner Todd Boehly acting after a worrying start to the campaign.
How does Tuchel compare to other Chelsea managers? Have your say in the comments section
Chelsea were the Premier League's biggest spenders last summer, adding £270m worth of talent to their squad. Compared to that, the £13m paid to Tuchel might not seem like such a high sum.
7. Fabio Capello, Russia (£13.4m)
Capello received a reported £1.5m after leaving his post as England manager in 2012, but earned a great deal more when his time in charge of the Russian national team came to an end. The Italian took over in 2014 with a view to leading the team in their home World Cup four years later, but lasted just 18 months.
Reports at the time suggested £13.4m was the sum paid to the former Juventus boss, but he may have received even more when deals outside the Russian FA's jurisdiction come into play. Capello took just one more job, with Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning, before announcing his retirement in 2018.
6. Luiz Felipe Scolari, Chelsea (£13.6m)
Former Brazil boss Scolari lasted less than a season at Chelsea before what some considered a harsh dismissal. The Blues sat fourth in the table after 25 Premier League games, but were the top scorers in the competition and had reached the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The well-travelled coach has managed club sides in three countries since his dismissal by Chelsea, as well as spending a second stint in charge of his national side, and is still active as he approaches his 74th birthday.
5. Jose Mourinho, Tottenham (£16m)
Jose Mourinho has continued to receive handsome pay-packets during his career, despite a number of years having passed since his last league title. Tottenham paid £16m to part ways with the Portuguese on the eve of the League Cup final in 2021, with the club sitting seventh in the table, and that's where they would finish under caretaker boss Ryan Mason.
In terms of a day rate, though, Mourinho falls a little short of his permanent successor Nuno Espirito Santo. The ex-goalkeeper, who played under Mourinho at Porto, walked away with a reported £5m after taking charge of just 10 Premier League games.
4. Laurent Blanc, PSG (£17m)
Paris Saint-Germain have worked their way through a fair few managers since their takeover in June 2011. Former France manager Blanc was one of the earlier appointments, delivering three successive titles, but was sacked after failing to deliver European success.
Blanc's PSG finished the 2015-16 season with 96 points, a figure which remains a record in Ligue 1. They have still yet to win the Champions League, though they reached the final under Tuchel in 2020.
3. Jose Mourinho, Chelsea (£18m)
The first appointment of the Roman Abramovich era, Mourinho was also one of the most expensive dismissals. After taking over from Claudio Ranieri in 2004, the former Porto boss delivered back-to-back titles, but was unable to add a European trophy.
After failing to make it three Premier Leagues in a row in 2007, Mourinho was sacked just weeks into the new season. His £18m compensation was a record at the time, with that high mark standing for more than a decade.
2. Jose Mourinho, Man Utd (£19.6m)
Mourinho's second Chelsea payoff was significantly lower than the first, but he would go on to receive nearly £20m when let go by Manchester United. After arriving at Old Trafford in 2016, he signed an extension in January 2018 but was gone less than a year later.
The Portuguese led United to a second-place finish in the 2017-18 season, but his team didn't even enter the top four in 17 games under Mourinho during the following campaign. For those wondering, his successor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer received a reported £7.5m when he was dismissed in 2021.
1. Antonio Conte, Chelsea (£26.6m)
Mourinho might have the highest cumulative total, but no one comes close to matching Conte's Chelsea dismissal at the top of the list. The Italian put pen to paper on a new deal in 2017, off the back of a title win in his first season, but was gone at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.
"During Antonio’s time at the club, we won our sixth league title and eighth FA Cup," a club statement read at the time. "In the title winning season, the club set a then-record 30 wins in a 38-game Premier League season, as well as a club-record 13 consecutive league victories."
Turns out you can put a price on that kind of achievement, and it's a very high one indeed.
