Hearts are closing in on the appointment of highly rated Belgian coach Wouter Vrancken as their new manager.
Following a memorable 2025/26 season that saw Hearts come within minutes of landing a historic Scottish Premiership title, it has been all change at Tynecastle over recent weeks.
First, captain and top scorer Lawrence Shankland departed for Rangers and then manager Derek McInnes followed suit, replacing Danny Rohl at Ibrox.
With a UEFA Champions League second-qualifying round tie against Austrian outfit Sturm Graz on the horizon, Hearts have looked to move quickly to replace McInnes.
Former AZ Alkmaar boss Maarten Martens and ex-Manchester United assistant Rene Hake were among the candidates interviewed for the position.
However, it looks like the club's hierarchy have opted to go with Vrancken, who may be little known in Britain, but he has built up a stellar reputation in his homeland.
Background & achievements
Vrancken enjoyed a solid if unspectacular playing career in Belgium, featuring for clubs such as Sint-Truiden, Gent and Genk over an 11-year career that saw him amass more than 300 appearances in the Pro League.
A well-rounded midfielder, the highlight of Vrancken's playing career came when helping Genk to a second-place finish in the 2006/07 season.
However, injury ultimately cut his career short as he was forced to retire in 2010 aged 31, just a matter of months after joining his final club Kortrijk.
Even before retiring from playing, Vrancken began coaching on a part-time basis in the Belgian lower leagues and he continued to do that for several years while also working in a bank.
After a spell as assistant manager at Kortrijk, Vrancken was handed his big break at another of his former clubs, Mechelen, in the summer of 2018 and his first season in charge could not have gone any better, as he led them to promotion to the Pro League as champions and also to a historic Belgian Cup success.
Vrancken established Mechelen in the upper echelons of the Pro League over the next three seasons before departing for Genk in 2022.
At Genk, Vrancken came close to winning the Pro League in 2022/23, as his side topped the regular season standings before finishing a point behind Antwerp in the play-offs.
A further season at Genk was then followed by a short spell at Gent before he took over at his most recent club, Sint-Truiden, in April 2025.
In his one full season in charge, Vrancken led Sint-Truiden to third place - their highest league finish for 60 years - and with it a place in the Europa League play-off round.
Having rejected reported interest from French club Saint-Etienne during the season, Vrancken opted to leave Sint-Truiden on a high at the end of the campaign, with the former Belgian coach of the year now set to join Hearts.
Honours
Mechelen
- Belgian Cup 2018/19
Genk
Belgian Pro League: Runner-up 2022/23
Belgian Golden Shoe: Best Coach of the Calendar Year: 2022
Tactics & style of play
Vrancken's style has been branded as 'organised chaos' with an emphasis on an attacking approach.
The 47-year-old has tended to favour a 4-2-3-1 formation, particularly during his time at Sint-Truiden, where he got the best out of players such as Keisuke Goto and Ryotaro Ito, who both reached double figures for goals during 2025/26.
When he was in charge of Genk for the 2022/23, his side finished as the top scorers in the Pro League with 88 goals, further underlining his emphasis on attacking play.
With Hearts also closing in on the signing of French forward Sabri Guendouz - a player Vrancken should know well as he will be joining from Belgian club Beerschot - it appears work is already underway ahead of the new manager's arrival.
Time will tell if Vrancken is the right man to take Hearts forward, but one thing is for sure, he will have big shoes to fill after McInnes and co came so close to being crowned Scottish champions during 2025/26.
