Vitor Pereira named new Wolves boss with Premier League club paying six-figure compensation
Portuguese manager Vitor Pereira has signed a one-and-a-half year contract to become the new Wolves manager.
Pereira's appointment comes after the Midlands club parted ways with Gary O'Neil following a 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Saturday.
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Despite the club insisting they were backing O'Neil during a run of top-flight defeats, Wolves announced he had been sacked on Sunday.
The Premier League club are yet to make an official announcement, however, Pereira's now former club Al Shabab confirmed in a statement on Wednesday night that he will step down from taking over at Molineux.
talkSPORT understands Wolves have paid Al Shabab £800,000 in compensation to take Pereira.
The compensation fee of around £800,000 was reportedly not a deterrent for the club, although they did explore other options, including David Moyes.
Pereira looked after Porto and Olympiakos before moving to the Saudi Pro League, where his team features former Wolves player Daniel Podence.
Al Shabab have won seven of 13 matches so far and are sixth in the table.
He guided Porto to two Primeira Liga titles and led Olympiakos to win the Greek Super League in 2015.
Wolves could have Pereira on the touchline on Sunday, and a trip to Leicester would be a valuable opportunity for the new boss to claim his first three golden points.
O'Neil has guided Wolves to just two wins in 16 top-flight games so far this season, losing 11, including a tough loss to Everton.
The team has struggled defensively and has conceded a league-high 40 goals.
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On top of this, they have conceded two or more in 13 of their 16 games so far.
It seemed clear that O'Neil had lost the dressing room after his consecutive defeats to West Ham and Ipswich ended in fights with rival players.
Mario Lemina was stripped of his captaincy after dragging Jarrod Bowen to the ground and confronting Wolves assistant Shaun Derry.
The following week, following a defeat to Ipswich, Rayan Ait Nouri confronted Ipswich's Wes Burns, who had his hand on the Wolves star's neck.
Craig Dawson intervened and restrained Ait-Nouri, lifting him off the field and escorting him down the tunnel.
Matheus Cunha also clashed with a member of Ipswich staff, when he was seen removing his glasses from his face.
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O'Neil recently spoke about the club's struggles, citing player sales over the past two seasons, including now Chelsea star Pedro Neto.
After the defeat to teammate West Ham, he said: “The people above me support me. But of course the fans want their football club to succeed.
“I understand that they are pointing the finger at me and that it is my team and I have to take responsibility, but when I arrived at this football club they had only added 41 points in the Premier League.
“Since that moment, we have managed to make 200 million pounds in player sales. We have sold a huge number of players if you go back to Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Daniel Podence, Adama Traoré, Raúl Jiménez, Diego Costa, Pedro Neto and Max Kilman.”
