Hearts not short of leaders, insists boss Vrancken
· Yahoo Sports
Hearts may have lost Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin to Rangers, but new head coach Wouter Vrancken is sure his squad is still full of leaders.
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Shankland had been the captain at Tynecastle, while vice-captain Craig Halkett is not expected to play before 2027 as he recovers from injury.
Experienced duo Frankie Kent and Beni Baningime have also moved on, but Vrancken, who arrived from Sint-Truiden last month, is not worried.
"With Halkett, with Stephen Kingsley, Jamie McCart, Stuart Findlay, Harry Milne, we have a lot of personalities in the group, so the number of leaders is not a problem," he said.
"Of course, we have lost the total central spine of the team, so we have to look to make sure we are strong again. But the guys are pushing really hard and that's nice to work with.
"Most important for me is that the leaders take the responsibility. We don't have officially a captain yet. We have also Craig (Halkett) who is still out until the end of the year. He is also a potential captain, so I'm not concerned about those things."
Hearts have made seven signings this summer but Vrancken is now seeking a deep-lying midfielder fill the void left by the influential Devlin.
"It's difficult to say now because we have already a big group of players, a lot of players now," Vrancken said when asked how many new recruits he needs.
"We have to see that the group is not too big, but we need some quality."
Striker Claudio Braga has been linked with Lyon and Ipswich Town in recent weeks although Vrancken said: "What I've heard is nothing on the table, nothing concrete yet.
"I have an open and honest communication and relationship with Claudio about those things, so, nothing (to report) at the moment."