Corinthians manager Vitor Pereira has been criticised for openly admitting he would leave the club for Liverpool if he ever had the chance to join the Reds.
This is also after the 53-year-old almost joined Everton back in January following the sacking of Rafael Benitez. Pereira had been interviewed for the vacancy but was pipped to become the club's new manager by Frank Lampard, who has since guided the Toffees to safety.
A month later, Pereira was appointed as Corinthians' new boss on an initial contract until the end of the year. He has lost just five of his opening 20 matches in charge and his side currently sit top of the Brazilian league table.
However, after drawing against arch rivals Sao Paulo on Sunday, Pereira bizarrely claiming he would like to manage Liverpool in the future. The answer was brought on after Pereira was asked about attacker Roger Guedes and the former Everton-linked manager went on to say not everyone can do what they want.
"If you ask me, I wanted to coach Liverpool, with all the respect I have for Corinthians. Here it’s not what we want, in my concept, in terms of the game, it’s not what we want, it’s what the team needs," he said via Globo Esporte.
This did not go down well at all with the Corinthians fans and part of the local media, who were outraged by his quotes and what he said. Speaking to UOL, journalist Menon believes Pereira 'disrespected' his club and admitted he will never have a chance to manage Liverpool.
He said: "When Vitor Pereira said that he has won many derbies, he mentioned China, Portugal, Greece and Turkey. Minor leagues, classics that can excite a country, but whose repercussion does not cross borders. With a resume like that, he will never make it to Liverpool. Never. It was a very unfortunate comparison. Very."
Pereira began his senior coaching career at A.D. Sanjoanense and went on to manage at the likes of Porto, Olympiacos and Fenerbahce before being offered to join Everton in January. He was linked as owner Farhad Moshiri's leading candidate which prompted anger and vandalism from fans who saw him as inadequate and wanted eventual appointee Lampard instead.
The Everton board listened to their calls and decided to give Lampard the job. The former Chelsea midfielder has guided the Toffees to safety with a 16th place finish in the Premier League. He is set to be back over the summer to ensure Everton improve on what was a disappointing campaign, they just managed to escape danger.
