Wolves are in talks with Vitor Pereira after he parted ways with head coach Gary O’Neil and his staff on Sunday, CBS Sports sources said.
Pereira, a four-time winner of the league in a two-decade managerial career, is currently in charge of Al Shabab in the Saudi Pro League and Wolves would have to pay compensation to get him out of his deal. But with the Riyadh club sixth in the top flight, convincing them to part ways with Pereira, who joined in February, may not be a major problem.
The 56-year-old has enjoyed success at the likes of Porto, Olympiacos and Shanghai SIPG, and Pereira has also been a candidate for vacancies at Everton on several occasions. Pereira speaks good English and is used to working with a squad as cosmopolitan as Wolves, although that group has struggled to get out of the Premier League relegation zone so far this season.
That ultimately cost O’Neil his job at Wolves, 19th in the Premier League and five points from safety after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Ipswich Town.
“We are very grateful to Gary for all his commitment, dedication and hard work during his time at the club, and we wish him and his team every success for the future,” said chairman Jeff Shi.
In addition to the poor results (only two of their sixteen top-flight games this season have been won), a series of disciplinary problems marred O’Neil’s final weeks on the job. Mario Lemina was stripped of the captaincy following his fallout with Jarrod Bowen following a defeat at West Ham on Monday. Five days later, left back Rayan Ait-Nouri had to be dragged off the field by Craig Dawson after being shown a red card at the final whistle.
Pereira, who could be in place for next week’s away game against Leicester, will have to address these disciplinary issues but may also feel that a side with few options in the final third and especially at centre-back need reinforcement has if Wolves want to beat the scoreline. .