Wolves 'turned down' by ex-Inter Milan star to seal bold move to Serie A rivals

Wolves continued their mini-revival last time with a hard fought 2-2 draw against European hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur in a chaotic contest in North London.

Jorgen Strand Larsen’s late equaliser allowed Vitor Pereira to continue his impressive start to life in the dugout Molineux and means he has now picked up seven points from a possible nine since arriving.

Pereira has Wolves playing with confidence once again after a difficult end to predecessor Gary O’Neil’s time in the West Midlands.

The 56-year-old is the first Portuguese boss since Jose Mourinho to win both of his opening Premier League games and is currently looking like an inspired choice for the job.

However, a report from La Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Pereira was not the first name approached by the Wolves hierarchy and claims that incoming AC Milan manager Sergio Conceicao was initially the club’s number one choice.

Who is Sergio Conceicao?

Sergio Conceicao is a former Portugal international, who represented the likes of Inter Milan, Porto and Lazio during a successful playing career. He has been in management since 2012.

He started his managerial career with Olhanense and spent a single season with Académica, Braga, Vitória Guimarães and Nantes before landing the top job at FC Porto.

He spent seven years of his career with the Portuguese heavyweights, and between 2017 and 2024 was able to win three league titles and five cups along with three charity shields.

His team’s typically play in a 4-2-3-1 formation and are renowned for being fast, aggressive and hugely focused on keeping possession.

Fabio Capello commented on this approach saying: 'As a coach he has done very, very well at Porto, demonstrating great tactical and attacking attention. His teams are solid and balanced, we saw it in the Champions League. He’s a coach capable of working with both important players and prospective players: he brings out the best in everyone. He is used to building and doing it with a winning mentality. He made this with the philosophy of Porto, where historically value is created by winning.”

Conceicao ended his time at Porto by winning a cup and had been out of work for several months when Wolves made an initial approach.

However, the 50-year-old resisted the chance to move to the Premier League and waited an extra month to land the role as manager of AC Milan.

He inherits a team sitting eighth in the table after a lacklustre start under former boss Paulo Fonseca.