Wolves hope to finalize a deal in the next 24 to 48 hours for Vitor Pereira to become their new head coach, and Sky Sports News understands there is now broad agreement with Al Shabab over a compensation package.
Negotiations in Saudi Arabia are ongoing and Wolves have made plans to fly Pereira to England in midweek in time for him to attend training and prepare his new squad for Leicester this weekend.
The appointment would continue Wolves' desire to employ Portuguese coaches, with Pereira following in the footsteps of Bruno Lage and Nuno Espírito Santo.
The club's owners, Fosun, have strong ties with Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes, although it is unclear whether he has been involved with Pereira this time.
Pereira has never done it in the Premier League but is highly regarded in the Wolves hierarchy, having won league titles in three different countries.
He was on the verge of becoming Everton's new boss before Frank Lampard was appointed in 2022.
Gary O'Neil was suspended after a dramatic 2-1 defeat to Ipswich at Molineux on Saturday, which was followed by a scuffle that saw Rayan Ait-Nouri withdraw from the field.
That result leaves Wolves in 19th place in the Premier League – five points behind 17th-placed Leicester, their opponents on Sunday.
Wolves chairman Jeff Shi said in a statement on Sunday: “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.” .”
Wolves bosses, whose priority is Premier League survival, had done due diligence on a number of suitors in recent weeks, including West Brom manager Carlos Corberan and John Eustace at Blackburn.
'Wolves managers operate with one hand behind their backs'
Daily Mirror Assistant Editor Darren Lewis on Sunday Supplement:
“I have a lot of sympathy for O'Neil. At Wolves you do a good job and they sell your best players.
“Julen Lopetegui said he couldn't do the job if he didn't have the players who were sold under him. O'Neil came in and not only kept them up, but he did it quite comfortably.
“So what do they do? Sell two more of his best players, Pedro Neto and Max Kilman.
“Wolves sack him, but if I'm a Wolves fan I look at the club and ask why they bring in managers and ask them to do a job with one hand tied behind their back.
“It's 11 defeats in 16 games and rightly you can't expect to keep your job as a manager. But there's no manager in the Premier League who would say he can work in conditions where the chairman, the owners, the people who make the decisions will systematically remove your leaders at the back and your goalscorers and stay in the top division.”
Analysis: O'Neil's downfall is both simple and complicated
Sky Sports features writer Adam Bate:
“The story of how things played out for O'Neil, a coach who could have dreamed that his next job could have been like the England manager if the final stages of last season had gone differently, is both simple and complicated. There were certainly mitigating factors.
“The trajectory at Wolves has changed in recent seasons, a club seemingly in decline. Major investment has stopped and there will be some sympathy as a result. O'Neil only inherited the job because his predecessor was so frustrated with the situation.”
That trend continued in the summer when captain Max Kilman and star winger Pedro Neto were sold. The club will claim they have committed £28 million to sign a new striker in Jorgen Strand Larsen and a string of prospects they haven't given up yet.” .
“But it's a far cry from the days of Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho, Diogo Jota and Raul Jimenez, top-seven finishes and European nights at Molineux under Nuno Espirito Santo. Wolves cut ties with him at the end of a season in which they finished 13th.
“That was a team that knocked Liverpool and Manchester United out of the FA Cup in the same season and, as a newly promoted side, won the Premier League against Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal, before winning the double against Manchester City the following year.
“All this helps explain why the excuse of Wolves' difficult fixtures never really caught on. Fans had become accustomed to heckling the best teams, but the first eight games yielded one point. Those same games yielded 11 for O'Neil yourself.” last season.
“It is that comparison – between last season, in which Neto started less than half the games, and this one – that ultimately cursed O'Neil. Performances and results should not have deteriorated so dramatically. After all the praise, he lost his way .”
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