Vitor Pereira: Former Porto and Corinthians manager appointed new Wolves boss to replace Gary O'Neil
ByOli Gent
Updated 19/12/2024 at 15:36 GMT
Vitor Pereira has been named as the new Wolverhampton Wanderers manager following Gary O'Neil's dismissal. The Portuguese has signed an 18-month contract at Molineux and arrives from Saudi club Al-Shabab. Pereira takes the reins with Wolves mired in the relegation zone of the Premier League table. They are winless in their last four league games, losing all of them - most recently to Ipswich Town.
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Vitor Pereira has been named as Wolverhampton Wanderers' new manager to replace Gary O'Neil.
The Portuguese, who has been poached from Saudi Arabian club Al-Shabab, has signed an 18-month contract with the East Midlands outfit.
O'Neil was sacked following a fourth straight league defeat at the hands of Ipswich Town, who stole a 2-1 win at Molineux thanks to Jack Taylor's last-minute header.
O'Neil had been under increasing pressure, while tempers had boiled over in the Wolves squad after Mario Lemina was stripped of the captaincy after a post-match scuffle with Jarrod Bowen in the 2-1 loss to West Ham United last week.
Rayan Ait-Nouri was shown a red card in the tunnel after he was involved in a fiery altercation with Wes Burns after the full-time whistle against Ipswich, while Matheus Cunha, who scored the home side's only goal, got into a scrap with a member of Ipswich's security staff.
O'Neil said that Ait-Nouri and players that "stepped out of line" would be "heavily punished by me" in his post-match press conference, but he was not given the time to enact said punishments, having learned of his fate the following day.
Pereira comes in at a time of crisis amid calls from fans for the ownership group Fosun, fronted by Chinese business person Jeff Shi, to step aside.
"This is a challenging moment for the club, and we want to thank Vitor for taking on this responsibility," Shi said following Pereira's appointment.
"We have full confidence in his ability to guide us back on track, alongside the players and staff, and the entire club will be united in supporting him to achieve success."
Sporting director Matt Hobbs added: "Vitor is a highly experienced and accomplished head coach who has demonstrated his ability to succeed at the highest level. His personality, desire and leadership qualities stood out to us during this process, and we’re excited to see how he applies his expertise here at Wolves."
Pereira arrives with pedigree, having taken charge of FC Porto, Olympiacos, Fenerbahce, Corinthians and Flamengo during his managerial career. He lifted the Portuguese league title twice with Porto during his tenure.
He also won the Greek Super League in 2014/15 and the Chinese Super League with Shanghai SIPG during his time in China.
Pereira has been in charge of Saudi side Al-Shabab since February 2024, and has won 16 of his 30 games in charge.
Wolves are in 19th place in the Premier League, five points from safety.
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