Who is the most valuable manager in Serie A?

Calcio is well known for producing top quality mangers, with the generation including the likes of Sacchi, Lippi, Capello, and Ancelloti passing the torch to the current crop of elite managers in Serie A. Conte at Juventus, Mazzarri at Napoli and now Inter, Montella at Fiorentina, and to a lesser extent Allegri at Milan, all have received accolades for the jobs they have done over the last season, and not without good reason.

However, a manager closer in age to the previous generation, Francesco Guidolin, does not always get the credit he deserves for the incredible job he has done at Udinese. Yes, his name is usually mentioned in the conversation regarding manager of the year, but if you compare what he has achieved relative to the resources at his disposal, it becomes obvious how underrated he still is as a manager.

Guidolin has led Udinese to 4th, 3rd, and 5th place finishes in the last three seasons, after the club finished 15th the year prior to his arrival. The team has consistently been in the top five despite losing players such as Sanchez, Inler, Zapata, Asamoah, and Handanovíc during this time.

Udinese’s wage bill at the beginning of this season according to Gazzeta dello Sport was just over 21 million euros, the joint 6th lowest in the division and far behind the figures spent by Milan (120), Juventus (115), Inter (100), and even Roma (95). Likewise, a study done by Cantennacio.nl from 2001 to 2011shows that Udinese have had the greatest positive net transfer balance while Juventus, Napoli, and Fiorentia made up the top three in the opposite category.

While Conte has been instrumental turning Juventus back into one of Europe’s top clubs, he has also had the most talented and well balanced squad in Serie A to work with. Likewise, though Napoli’s squad is not as complete as Juve’s, it is full of experience and Mazzarri has been able to rely on the league’s best goal scorer, Edison Cavani.

Montella’s situation is slightly different in that Fiorentina experienced a huge turnover in the players in the offseason and the manager deserves much praise for creating an attractive, attacking side. However, he was not exactly starting from scratch. While Borja Valero may have been unproven in Serie A, he was clearly a quality player having already been capped by Spain. Similarly, David Pizzaro, who started his career at Udinese under another often overlooked manager in Luciano Spalleti, was an additional proven player at Montella’s disposal.

Apart from the evergreen Di Natale, Guidolin has had to build his squad each year from a relatively unproven group of players. While credit must also go to Udinese’s excellent scouting network in South America, the speed at which Guidolin has been able to develop potential into real ability is extraordinary. This, coupled with his ability to set his side up to absorb pressure and play effective on the counter attack, has turned Udinese into a very difficult team to beat, home or away.

In time when Serie A’s profile globally is waning and even the top clubs struggle to compete economically with Europe’s other big spenders, it is important for Italian football to recognize and continue to develop managers like Guidolin who are not only adept at the tactical side of the game, but are also able to coach and develop younger players.