Everton continue to assess candidates to succeed Marco Silva on a permanent basis despite caretaker boss Duncan Ferguson’s flying start at the weekend, with Shanghai SIPG coach Vitor Pereira apparently high on their wish list.

A highly emotional Ferguson galvanised Everton with a  3-1 victory over Chelsea at Goodison Park on Saturday, a win which moved the Blues out of the Premier League relegation zone.

The result gave the Everton board vital breathing space to consider their options when it comes to Silva’s replacement, who was sacked after 18-months in charge following the 5-2 Merseyside derby defeat by Liverpool at Anfield, with the former Porto boss Pereira now 2.20* to get the job.

Sky Sports have reported that negotiations have continued over the past seven days, with Everton willing to offer the 51-year old a three-year deal to take control at Goodison Park.

However, Pereira’s current club Shanghai SIPG, are apparently desperate to keep hold of their boss and are making every effort to tempt him into one more season in the Chinese Super League – including the offer of a new £25m a year contract.

The Portuguese has enjoyed a varied and well-travelled coaching career and has managed a number of top European clubs including Porto, where he achieved back-to-back Primeira titles, and Olympiacos, where he won a Greek domestic double in 2015.

Having only played football at an amateur level he quit the game at 28 and turned to management, with his first head coach appointment coming at A.D. Sanjoanense in the third tier of Portuguese football.

Sacked at the end of the season, he went to FC Porto’s juniors for a year before managing S.C. Espinho again in the third tier, but was sacked again with ten games left in the season.

Another opportunity quickly came his way however, this time with C.D. Santa Clara in the second division; where he led them to third and fourth place finishes, narrowly missing out on Primeira Liga promotion

In 2010 he was appointed as assistant manager to Andre Villas-Boas at Porto and helped the club to win a treble of the Primeira Liga, Portuguese Cup and the Europa League as the team went unbeaten in their league campaign.

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Following Villas-Boas’s departure for Chelsea, Peira led Porto to back-to-back Primeira Liga titles but struggled to make an impact in domestic or European cup competitions, eventually leaving the club in 2013.

Pereira enjoyed a 10-month stint with Al-Ahli in the Saudi Professional League before a five-month spell at Olympiakos saw him win a league and cup double in Greece, but he decided to leave Olympiakos in 2015 to become boss of Fenerbahçe, before being sacked by the Turkish club after just 13 months in charge.

After taking-over over 1860 Munich, with the Bavarian side two points above the Bundesliga 2’s relegation zone at the time, he could not save them from going down after a play-off defeat – a drop which had huge ramifications for the club.

Having been appointed by investor Hasan Ismaik, Pereira brought with him a substantial backroom staff and at great cost and eventually left the club with 1860 dropping into the fourth-tier as Ismaik refused to pay the fees required to register them in the third-tier of German football.

Following his appointment as manager of Shanghai in December 2017, he guided the club to their first-ever Chinese Super League title in his first season in charge, though could only manage a third-placed finish last season with the likes of Hulk, former Chelsea star Oscar and Marko Arnautovic among his squad.

Piera is not the only name in contention for the vacant role and reports suggest there has been informal contact to gauge the interest of sacked ex-Arsenal boss Unai Emery, while Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe – a lifelong Blue – is another name which has been linked to the Toffees.

Spaniard Marcelino is another out-of-work coach looking for a route back into football after he was sacked by Valencia earlier this season and former Everton manager David Moyes has also been strongly linked and can be backed at 2.20* to be the new man in charge at Goodison Park.

Everton will be keen to name a successor for Marco Silva sooner rather than later, but Ferguson’s solid start as caretaker manager has allowed them time to consider all their options ahead of a tricky run of fixtures coming up.

Their next match is away to Manchester United on Sunday and is followed by a League Cup quarter-final with Leicester and the visit of Arsenal and tricky looking fixtures with Burnley and Newcastle.

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