Wolverhampton Wanderers: Vitor Pereira ends wait to manage in Premier League
The Portuguese moved to Molineux on an 18-month deal on Thursday to end his wait to work in England.
Pereira, who has been close to joining Everton several times since 2010, achieved his goal to manage in the Premier League this week when he replaced Gary O’Neil at Wolves, his 10th club in the last 11 years.
“The last 14 years of my career, my focus was to come to England,” he said, after leaving Saudi side Al-Shabab. “To compete with the best coaches, this is the seat I want to be in. I want to be in this league to compete, challenge myself and I’m ready.
“I remember the first step outside the country [Portugal] was to Saudi Arabia [Al-Ahli] 14 years ago. When I left Porto, my target was a club in England.
“I had a meeting at that time to come to England but after a prince knocked on the door and convinced me, I did not go to England. I never imagined I’d go to Saudi.
“I had some approaches from clubs in England [in the past] but Wolves did the step forward to finish.”
Pereira takes over with Wolves second bottom and five points behind 17th-placed Leicester, who they face at the King Power Stadium on Sunday (14:00 GMT).
The side have have lost 11 of their 16 games this season and have conceded 40 goals, the highest in the league, yet Pereira will not rush into any business in the January transfer window.
He said: “The club is open to doing it but in this moment it’s important to understand the players on the pitch.
“It’s important I have one week to understand what I can do with the players, to study their personality and what we need. After this we’ll decide.”
But the 56-year-old wants to shape his side quickly and will look to guide them with his methods.
“It’s a responsibility but a good one. In my opinion it’s to give confidence to them, to guide them, like a tactical GPS, to point them in the same direction,” added the ex-Olympiakos manager.
“It’s very important to connect the tactical quality, technical quality because I like my teams to play good football but with tactical organisation and courage to play our game.”
The club also expects Matheus Cunha to be available on Saturday after he was charged by the Football Association with misconduct with any final judgement not expected until next week.
