Everton linked with Vitor Pereira: Three things to know about the managerial candidate

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Bengaluru, Dec. 9: Interim manager Duncan Ferguson may have led Everton to an impressive 3-1 victory over Chelsea back in the weekend but their search for a new manager is believed to be still on.

Marco Silva was relieved of his duties on Thursday, less than 24 hours after Everton's embarrassing 5-2 defeat at Merseyside rivals Liverpool. A number of names have now been linked with the job, including former Everton boss David Moyes and current Napoli manager Carlo Ancelotti. But apparently Everton are closer to appointing a surprise choice, former Porto and current Shanghai SIPG's boss Vitor Perreira.

Here are things you need to know about the candidate:

A proven winner but with relatively less comparative leagues:

Contrasted to other managers being linked with the job, Pereira's career doesn't quite stand up as he is yet to manage in any top five leagues. However, he has enjoyed success at most of the clubs he's managed. He was appointed as Andre Villas-Boas' assistant at Porto in 2010.

In his first season, he and AVB clinched the Europa League title. The next season when Villa-Boas left for Stamford Bridge Perreira was given the full-time job. His appointment was a success as he clinched two back to back league titles.

But two seasons later he made a strange career choice opting for Saudi Professional League with Al-Ahli SC. It did not fare well and he ended up in Europe just a season later in Greece with Olympiacos. He was at the Greek club for less than six months but still won two cups.

Later he managed the likes of Fenerbahce and 1860 Munich, but those stints were not successful. Last year, he was appointed as one of the costliest managers of the world with Chinese league's Shanghai SIPG. He managed to win silverware even there with the Chinese Super League title while also adding the Chinese Super Cup to his increasing haul of silverware.

Longevity concerns

The Portuguese manager may have a long list of silverware in his bag however he is not known for longevity and stability. In his 15-year career as a manager, Pereira has already trained nine different clubs in six different countries. The longest he's ever settled at any of them is the two seasons that he had at Porto at the start of this decade​. Everton have not found stability in managerial reign since Moyes' departure. Hence looking for stability with Pereira could be an issue.

He had been linked with the Toffees before:

This, however, is not the first time that Pereira has been linked with the job at Goodison Park. During his peak years at Porto, he was viewed as a replacement for David Moyes. Even apparently, he was interviewed as a candidate to take over the reign. But at that moment, they chose to bring in then Wigan boss Roberto Martinez instead and since then it has been a managerial merry-go-round at Everton.