Wolverhampton Wanderers are set to appoint Vitor Pereira as their new head coach after sacking Gary O'Neil earlier this week.

The relegation-threatened Premier League club have agreed an 18-month deal with the Portuguese, report British media including the PA news agency and BBC.

Pereira, currently in charge of Al Shabab, inherits a club five points clear of safety.

The 56-year-old has agreed a deal until the end of the 2025/26 season after Wolves agreed to pay the Saudi Pro League side compensation. They currently sit sixth with seven wins from 13 games.

An official appointment is expected to be made in the next 24 hours, with his first game in charge a crunch clash against Leicester on Sunday.

Pereira has won league titles in Portugal with Porto in 2011-12 and 2012-13, Greece with Olympiakos in 2014-15, and China with Shanghai SIPG in 2018 during an extensive managerial career. taking in 13 clubs in seven countries.

He was close to replacing Rafael Benitez as Everton manager in 2022 but lost out to Frank Lampard after fans protested against his reported appointment.

He would become the third Portuguese manager to take charge of Wolves following Nuno Espirito Santo and Bruno Lage as agent Jorge Mendes continues to have influence at Molineux.

O'Neil was sacked after Saturday's defeat - Wolves' fourth in a row - left them second-bottom of the English top flight with nine points from 16 games.

There were ugly scenes at full-time as Rayan Ait-Nouri was shown a second yellow card and Matheus Cunha was involved in a confrontation with Ipswich staff, which led to him receiving a Football Association charge on Tuesday.