Vitor Pereira has revealed he held a meeting with Arsenal during the period the club were searching for a successor to Unai Emery, confirming he spoke to the club and Edu.
When Unai Emery was removed from his position, it was not immediately clear who would take charge at Arsenal. Mikel Arteta, who had previously been considered as a possible successor to Arsene Wenger but felt he was not ready at that stage, ultimately took the job 23 days after Emery departed, stepping into his first managerial role.
Current Forest manager, Vitor Pereira has now confirmed he was one of the coaches who held a meeting with Arsenal.
At the time he was managing SH SIPG, before spells with Fenerbahce, Corinthians, and Al-Shabab, eventually moving to Wolves in 2024 where he came to wider attention among the UK football audience.
The Nottingham Forest manager was asked about Edu, who may or may not have been sacked by Evangelos Marinakas after only eight months at Forest (but has definitely been told to stay away from the club), ahead of the club’s Europa League tie with FC Midtjylland.
“The first meeting I had in the club was with Edu,” said Pereira.
“I know him from Arsenal because I had a meeting with Arsenal some time ago, when he started there.
“I know him very well as a person and as a professional. In this short time, we didn’t have a lot of opportunities or time to be together.
“It’s not something I control, I don’t know the full information to speak about it. But this is someone I respect a lot as a person and a professional.”
Edu joined Arsenal as Technical Director in July 2019, and Emery was dismissed four months later. Pereira’s comments indicate the club were already considering alternative candidates during that period as they assessed their options as it grew ever clearer that Emery was not the answer.
At Forest, Edu has overseen the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo, who guided the club to Europe, just 64 days after arriving, despite the manager being popular with the fans. His poor relationship with Edu was stated as the main driver of what was a surprising move.
Nuno’s replacement Ange Postecoglou lasted 39 days, while his successor Sean Dyche remained in the role for 114 days.