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Wolves have appointed Vitor Pereira as their new manager following the sacking of Gary O’Neil.
Pereira has signed a one-and-a-half-year contract after repaying the £800,000-plus deal he negotiated with Saudi Pro League side Al Shabab upon his exit.
O’Neil was fed up on Sunday after a heavy 2-1 defeat by Ipswich at Molineux on Saturday, which was followed by a scuffle that saw Rayan Ait-Nouri leave the pitch and Matheus Cunha has been charged with misconduct by the FA.
The result left Wolves 19th in the Premier League table – five points behind 17th-placed Leicester, who play on Sunday.
Sky Sports news were told Wolves were happy to pay Pereira’s release clause and the 56-year-old, who has won league titles in three different countries at Porto, Olympiakos and Shanghai, wants to move to Molineux.
Pereira – who has been in charge of Al Shabab since February – was linked with the Everton job as early as 2022, but Toffees fans protested and Frank Lampard was appointed as his replacement.
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Sky Sports’ Peter Smith takes a look at Wolves’ defensive stats and stresses the need for improvement to avoid relegation.
Analysis: Who is Vitor Pereira?
Sky Sports has reporter Adam Bate:
Pereira’s appointment with Wolves takes the Portuguese coach’s tally since leaving Porto in 2013 into double figures. A decade ago, Pereira was briefly regarded as one of Europe’s most promising players.
What he did in Porto bears repeating. He won the title in both of his seasons, hosting an unbeaten team to become champions under Andre Villas-Boas. Pereira’s last season was an exciting one as Porto went undefeated again.
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Ipswich’s win against Wolves in the Premier League
He won the championship with Olympiakos in Greece and won the Chinese Super League during his time in Shanghai, but there was also the turmoil of managing Fenerbahce and trying to keep 1860 Munich in Germany’s second division.
Having spent more than a year in Brazil, working for big clubs Corinth and Flamengo, Pereira has pedigree, but there is also a risk to his credentials as this is his first job in one of Europe’s big five.
There are things that work in him. Wolves have a history of Portuguese coaches being promoted to the Premier League under Nuno Espirito Santo and finishing in the top half under Nuno and his successor Bruno Lage.
The composition of the Wolves squad still reflects that influence. At least eight of the players in O’Neil’s final game against Ipswich speak Portuguese as a first language and that does not include suspended Brazil international midfielder Joao Gomes.
These are some of the key players in the squad, who Pereira will need in the side if he is to turn around Wolves’ fortunes. Nelson Semedo is now the captain of the team. Cunha is the undisputed star player. Managing Andre’s character can be difficult.
Pereira’s challenge is to act quickly. Defeat at Leicester in the next game would leave Wolves seven points behind the team they must catch if they want to stay up. Discipline and hope must be done quickly for success.
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Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz breaks down what Pereira could bring to Molineux
Wolves’ next six games in the Premier League
Leicester (a) – December 22, 2pm
Man Utd (h) – December 26, 5.30pm
Tottenham (a) – December 29, 3pm
Nottingham Forest (h) – January 6, 8pm – Stay on Sky Sports
Newcastle (a) – January 15, 7.30pm
Chelsea (a) – January 20, 8pm – Stay on Sky Sports
What happened at Everton?
Pereira was close to becoming manager of Everton in January 2022, until he was approached Sky Sports news in order to stop the protests of the fans who expected to be elected. In the end, the Toffees opted to go with Lampard instead.
“It was either him or Lampard,” Sky Sports news reporter Alan Myers explains. “I think the fans loved Lampard more than him. They wanted Pereira out and he didn’t go in!” But for a while it seemed that Pereira had managed to convince Everton officials.
“He had an interview with Bill Kenwright and Bill was happy about it. He didn’t think he was right at first and he voted for Frank Lampard in the end, but I remember him calling me and saying that this was the most interesting, inspiring person you could ever meet.
“Bill said he was perfect, you could have eaten dinner out of his suit. He was very upset. I thought he was going to get the job at the time. The board voted in favor of Lampard but he was close. .
“He did well in Porto and built his career on it, winning several things, but he has had more teams than Jack Nicklaus since then. Certainly he is a quality that will light up the Premier League in many ways. He does not go back to what he says.”
