Wolves set to appoint Vitor Pereira as new boss after agreeing 18-month deal

By Jonathan Veal, PA

Wolves are set to appoint Vitor Pereira as their new head coach after agreeing an 18-month deal with the Portuguese, the PA news agency understands.

Pereira, currently in charge of Al Shabab, will replace Gary O’Neil, who was sacked following Saturday’s damaging 2-1 Premier League defeat to Ipswich, which left Wolves five points clear of safety.

The 56-year-old has agreed a deal until the end of the 2025/26 season after Wolves agreed to pay the Saudi Pro League side compensation.

An official appointment is expected to be made in the next 24 hours, with his first game in charge a crunch clash against Leicester on Sunday.

Pereira has won league titles in Portugal, Greece and China during an extensive managerial career and was close to replacing Rafael Benitez as Everton manager in 2022.

On that occasion, he lost out to Frank Lampard after fans protested against his reported appointment, with the message ‘Pereira out, Lampard in’ being painted on a wall at Goodison Park.

But it appears he is now set for a Premier League job and would become the third Portuguese manager to take charge of Wolves following Nuno Espirito Santo and Bruno Lage as agent Jorge Mendes continues to have influence at Molineux.

O’Neil was sacked after Saturday’s defeat – Wolves’ fourth in a row – left them second-bottom of the English top flight with nine points from 16 games.

There were ugly scenes at full-time as Rayan Ait-Nouri was shown a second yellow card and Matheus Cunha was involved in a confrontation with Ipswich staff, which led to him receiving a Football Association charge on Tuesday.