VITOR PEREIRA is the latest in a long line of Jorge Mendes clients to get the top job at Wolves.
The notoriously hot-headed Portuguese boss was announced as Gary O'Neil's replacement at Molineux on Thursday afternoon on an 18-month contract.
And anyone expecting Pereira to tow the party line at Wanderers should look at how he responded to an attempted muzzle at the press conference in Saudi Arabia.
Pereira, while boss of Al Ahli in the 2013-14 season, launched into a tirade in which he lambasted a player as “a bad professional” when the press officer conducting the media briefing cut him off.
The manager was told not to focus on individuals, prompting an angry tirade from an incensed Pereira who raged: “My friend, I talk about what I want. This is the first time in my life that someone has told me what I can say!”
If Wolves' pressers are at all animated under the 56-year-old, they could be compelling viewing for the rest of the season.
O'Neil – and thus went back to Mendes.
The Portuguese super agent, who famously managed the careers of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho, was the man behind the appointments of Walter Zenga, Nuno Espirito Santo, Bruno Lage and Julen Lopetegui.
Fosun had gone in a different direction with O'Neil, but has seemingly returned to form at the club that was in serious danger of relegation.
On the face of it, Pereira is the most journeyman of journeyman managers, with Wolves in his ELEVENTH post since succeeding Andre Villas-Boas as Porto boss in 2011.
During his travels around the world he has coached clubs in Portugal, Greece, Turkey, China, Brazil, Germany, Saudi Arabia and now England.
But his stats and silverware are relatively impressive, with a win rate of 53 percent, a goals-per-game ratio of 1.8 and a trophy count of eight.
However, half of them came to Porto, where he was promoted to AVB from his role as assistant.
His side, featuring stars such as James Rodriguez and Joao Moutinho, struggled in Europe but won back-to-back league titles.
Porto's dominance ended after he left, with Benfica being crowned champions for the next four seasons, which explains why Pereira is still so highly regarded in his home country.
The former lower-league midfielder has had mixed fortunes since then.
He won the double with Olympiakos in 2015 and Shanghai's first-ever Chinese Super League title three years later.
But he was relegated to the third tier of German football with 1860 Munich and fell few trees in the past four years at Fenerbahce, Corinthians, Flamengo and Al Shabab.
Pereira's dream has been in the Premier League for some time and in 2022 he came close to realizing it with Everton as Rafa Benitez's successor before Frank Lampard got it.
But fans protested the potential appointment, with graffiti sprayed on Goodison Park demanding “Pereira out Lampard in”, leading to the England captain's appointment.
Wolves made the leap two years later after paying the £800,000 release clause in his contract with Al-Shabab, where he was in charge of ex-Wanderers midfielder Daniel Podence.
Pereira, who will sign a year-and-a-half deal, faces a huge challenge with 19th-placed Wanderers, five points off safety and as leaky as a sieve at the back.
Their 40 goals are four more than second-worst Southampton and this was the problem O'Neil could not solve.
Pereira has proven to be a shrewd tactician defensively, conceding an average of 1.1 goals per game since 2011, and will focus on signing a new centre-back next month.
The disciplinarian has another headache with star player Matheus Cunha as he faces a lengthy ban for his confrontation with an opposition staffer following Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Ipswich, which also did the same for his predecessor.
It all points to an uphill battle to save Wolves from the fall.
But Pereira will certainly have something to say about that.
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