Who is Vitor Pereira? Eight things you might not know about potential Everton boss
- Matt Whiley
- 27 January 2022
The relatively unknown Vitor Pereira is vying with Frank Lampard to take over at Goodison Park. Allow Planet Sport to make him more known.
The Everton job now looks to be a two-horse race between Frank Lampard and Vitor Pereira.
Lampard's career path is well documented but much less is known about Pereira, a 53-year-old Portuguese who has previously coached FC Porto, Olympiakos, Fenerbahce and 1860 Munich.
A client of super-agent Kia Joorabchian, Planet Sport brings you eight things you need to know about Pereira.
His playing career was… undistinguished
It's often the case for many top-level managers that they do not have particularly notable playing careers and the same is true of Pereira. He only ever played for part-time clubs in his homeland, with a ten-year career seeing him bounce between seven different clubs in the lower reaches of the Portuguese league system.
He called time on his playing career aged just 28 and his first foray into management saw him take charge of the junior section at Padroense, a lower-division Portuguese outfit.
His first ever Porto match brought his first ever trophy
After several short spells around junior sections and the lower levels of the Portuguese pyramid, Pereira was given his big break when he was appointed assistant to Andre Villas-Boas at Porto.
A season later, after the then-33-year-old Villas-Boas moved to Chelsea, Pereira was handed the reins himself, and it took him only 90 minutes to win the club their first trophy of his reign.
The trophy in question was the 2011 Supertaca Candido de Oliveira, best explained as the Portuguese version of England's Community Shield, where Porto saw off Vitoria de Guimarães 2-1 thanks to a brace from Rolando.
He's rather fickle about the Primeira Liga
In May 2013, having been Porto manager for almost two seasons, Porto were second to rivals Benfica in the Portuguese top flight, and the title battle was going down to the wire.
It was at that point Pereira deemed the Primeira Liga a "dirty, dirty championship" but it took him only a matter of days to change that opinion, when Porto defeated Benfica and seized the initiative in the title race.
His response after the win over Benfica? "It's a highly competitive and prestigious league."
Porto went on to win the league.
He has prior business with Everton
📸 Graffiti spray painted onto Goodison Park tonight protesting against the appointment of Vitor Pereira pic.twitter.com/sTjKKZh1RB
— The Toffee Blues (@EvertonNewsFeed) January 26, 2022
It might surprise you to learn that anyone would go remotely near Everton even once, let alone multiple times, but if reports are correct, this would be the third time Pereira has been interviewed for the Goodison Park hotseat.
His first approach came in 2013, following the departure of David Moyes to Manchester United, but the job was instead given to Roberto Martinez, and Pereira went to Al-Ahli of the Saudi Pro League.
Later, having moved on to Shanghai SIPG in China, he again interviewed for the Goodison job in 2019, but the club opted for Carlo Ancelotti instead after Pereira pulled out. Will it be third time lucky for the Toffees?
Eight trophies across two continents…
Aside from his notable ventures at Porto, Pereira has indeed become rather well-travelled throughout his managerial career, taking charge of no fewer than nine different clubs.
Those nine are spread right across the world, from the western reaches of his homeland to the Far East, and throughout his near-two decades as a coach, he has delivered eight trophies, six of which were in Europe and two in China.
…including delivering Shanghai a first ever league title
Of those two trophies in China, both of which arrived during the three years he spent as boss of Chinese Super League outfit Shanghai SIPG (now known as Shanghai Port FC), one was the CSL title, in 2018.
A league title is always notable, but this was the fourth time Pereira had steered one of his sides to one, so what was particularly creditable about this latest one?
Well, this was in fact the first time ever that Shanghai, founded 13 years previously, were crowned champions of China, securing 68 points to finish clear of Guangzhou Evergrande at the summit.
He likes to play attacking football…
Unlike another famous Portuguese manager, Pereira does not tend to park the bus defensively, and has instead demonstrated a fondness for taking the game to his opponents.
During his second spell as boss of Fenerbahce, which ended in December last year, he made use of a back three, and oversaw a side that hit 41 goals in just 25 games.
When the net is cast wider, it's a theme that continues throughout his 17-year-long managerial career, with his teams having hit a combined 922 goals in 530 games.
…and he's not afraid of confrontation off the pitch either
However, if there is one similarity that Pereira has with his compatriot Jose Mourinho, it's that he has few qualms about reminding his players who is in charge, even if they don't necessarily like it.
He first courted controversy by leaving out star Colombian James Rodriguez for Porto's UEFA Champions League quarter-final with Malaga in 2013, a decision that Rodriguez later spoke out about.
Another incident took place in October last year, while Pereira was in his second spell at Fenerbahce, involving former Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil.
Pereira left Ozil on the bench for a league fixture against Kasimpasa, a decision that led to the German throwing a bib at his head coach out of frustration at a lack of minutes. Pereira was sacked less than two months later.
