Roberto Mancini beats cross-town rival Carlo Ancelotti and is only behind Jose Mourinho in the list of best-paid European coaches, a report Thursday said.
According to report in La Gazzetta dello Sport, the coach of Italian champions Inter Milan dwarfs most of his Serie A colleagues with after-tax earnings of 5 million euros (6.9 million dollars) he will receive each year until 2011.
AC Milan's Ancelotti, who won two Champions League titles in the past five years, signed this year a 4.5-million contract until 2010, more than twice the 2-million stipend of Roma's Luciano Spalletti.
The 5.5 million euros that Mourinho earns at English powerhouse Chelsea make him the top earner in Europe, but Mancini could reach 6 millions thanks to a contract clause that increase his pay in case Inter wins the national or continental title.
Former Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri makes 1.5 million at Juventus, the same amount as Cesare Prandelli at Fiorentina, while Torino pays Walter Novellino 1 million.
The remaining 14 Serie A coaches earn less than 1 million, gradually decreasing from the 900,000 euros of Palermo's Stefano Colantuono, to the 200,000 of Fernando Orsi at Livorno.
In the English Premiership, Manchester United veteran Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger of Arsenal trail Mourinho on 4 million euros, the same pay cheque as Real Madrid new coach Bernd Schuster, who beats by 1 million Barcelona's Franck Rijkaard in the Spanish Liga.
Salaries are less in the German Bundesliga, where the highest paid, Ottmar Hitzfeld, earns 2 million euros from Bayern Munich, and in the French Ligue 1, with champions Olympique Lyon rewarding Alain Perrin with 1.8 million.