Concern raised as Leicester City eye ex-Wolves boss Vitor Pereira to replace Marti Cifuentes | OneFootball

FLW’s Foxes Fan Pundit reveals his verdict on the Portuguese head coach

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Former Wolves boss Vitor Pereira is the latest name to be linked with the Leicester City job, but there’s belief that he might only make sense as a ‘short-term’ fix for the Foxes.

The Portuguese head coach is among the candidates under consideration to take over at the East Midlands club, as per the Express and Star - having been out of work since his dismissal at Molineux last November.

Yes, the 57-year-old did initially steady the ship at Molineux, but one concern has been raised by FLW’s Leicester City Fan Pundit, Louchlainn Martin, who thinks he should only be hired by Khun Top to do that, and not stick around longer.

Firstly, Martin admitted that the current managerial picture at the King Power is far from inspiring, and that Pereira’s emergence on the shortlist says a lot about where the club now sits as a whole.

"So, the managerial race at Leicester City is heating up, it seems, and the shortlist of names - on the odds - doesn’t seem too promising," Martin told FLW.

He added, "I’ve already spoken about Chris Coleman and Gary Rowett and my concerns around a couple of them. However, I think Vitor Pereira, who is the most recent name on the list, is unsurprising considering the market that we’re in.

"You know, we’re not looking at the higher-tier managers anymore."

According to Sky Sports' Rob Dorsett on X, Andy King is expected to remain in charge of Leicester for the Charlton Athletic game whilst the hierarchy are drawing up a shortlist of candidates.

Said candidates may include the likes of Rowett and Derek McInnes, as reported by The Daily Mail, Coleman - via Football Insider - and now, obviously, Pereira.

The 'concern' raised for ex-Wolves boss Vitor Pereira at Leicester City

Regarding the aforementioned 'higher-tier managers' Martin added, "Well, we had Brendan Rodgers, and we were linked with Graham Potter, and others."

Talking about Pereira specifically, the Fan Pundit said, "I think it could work short-term because you saw what he did when he went to Wolves last season in the Premier League. They had a miraculous turnaround with him, he picked up a few really, really good results and kept them safe in the league.

"But over time, that kind of wore off, and they nosedived a little bit until his sacking at the beginning of this season.

Wolves ultimately found themselves bottom of the Premier League with two points from 10 games, with recruitment missteps and confusing team selections cited as key factors by Sky Sports in the Portuguese's downfall.

Pereira's reign at the Black Country outfit ended after a 3-0 defeat to Fulham, but during his first season, he did oversee a six-game winning run.

This led to Martin continuing with, "My concern there would be long-term, that he’s not able to sustain that. You look at his CV, he’s managed a ridiculous number of clubs over his career, which again suggests to me he’s not a long-term manager, it’s maybe a choice for a short-term deal only.

"Again, my problem with that is Leicester don’t tend to give out short-term contracts to managers, or players, so I’d worry that they’d give him something like a two or three-year deal that would then lead to a big payoff at the end of it," the Fan Pundit told FLW.

Across his career so far as a head coach, Pereira has managed 11 different clubs, but it's worth noting he went back to Turkish Super Lig club Fenerbahçe for a second stint.

Using FotMob data, he's only lasted at least three years at one of these - Shanghai Port - and was there from December 2017 to December 2020. This was the same contract length that was signed by Marti Cifuentes last summer.

Martin concluded by claiming, "If it was a six-month deal till the end of the season on an interim basis, I would probably just about take Vitor Pereira, but if we’re talking anything longer than that, I would try and steer clear."

It remains to be seen which candidates are actually on Leicester’s proposed shortlist of managers, but handing Pereira a long contract in this context could easily leave them staring at another expensive reset further down the line.