Who is Wolves target Vitor Pereira?

The 56-year-old has a release clause at Saudi Arabian side Al Shabab that Wolves are prepared to pay and it is understood he is keen on the job.

But who is the potential new Molineux boss?

Footballing roots

The Portuguese football fanatic had a playing career at amateur level but retired at 28-years-old before moving into coaching.

He had success further down the pyramid in Portugal before impressing at Santa Clara, which earned him a job as Andre Villas-Boas' assistant at Porto.

He took over as head coach a year later and won back-to-back league titles.

Pereira then went on to work for Al Ahli, Olympiacos, Fenerbahce (twice), 1860 Munich, Shanghai SIPG, Corinthians and Flamengo, before arriving at Al Shabab in February this year.

He has been linked with a move to Everton twice and came close to getting the job and he now has his eyes set on a first Premier League job with Wolves.

Playing style

Throughout his career, Pereira has been known for being a progressive and attacking coach, but one that relies on defensive stability.

At Fenerbache he was known for his back five formations that utilised wing-backs and created an expansive style.

In Brazil there was more of a reliance on his rigid defence, while at Porto in 2011 he played a 4-3-3 with an impressive attacking team.

Most recently at Al Shabab, Pereira has continued with a back five or back three.

Wolves are desperate to improve on their leaky defence and if Pereira gets the job, his first task will be to shore up the back line.

O'Neil has used a back five on occasion this season and the new boss could utilise that, with one eye on making additions in January.

Man-management

Pereira has had public fall-outs with James Rodriguez and Mesut Ozil in his coaching career, but with four league titles to his name he has enough experience with big players in crucial situations to convince the Wolves board.

He is said to be strict with his discipline and with impressive emotional intelligence, alongside his ability to speak English clearly.

Wolves, after back-to-back games that involved discipline concerns among the players and embarrassing outbursts, will be hoping Pereira can calm down this emotional team and drag them to enough points to stay in the league.

He will need to control the team's big characters and the squad will need to buy-in to his philosophy quickly.