Hearts have moved a step closer to appointing Derek McInnes as their new manager after making an official approach to Premiership rivals Kilmarnock - and a former Tynecastle boss is said to be amongst the contenders to replace him at Rugby Park. The former Rangers and West Bromwich Albion midfielder confirmed an agreement had been reached between the two clubs ahead of Killie’s home game with Motherwell on Wednesday night and revealed talks are ongoing. In a strange twist of fate, Hearts will face Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in their final game of the season on Sunday afternoon - and it remains to be seen whether the move to appoint McInnes will be completed by then. Killie have already started to process of identifying potential successors to McInnes and former Hearts boss Steven Naismith is reportedly the frontrunner to take charge. The Daily Record have claimed the former Scotland international is ‘firmly in the equation’ and is ‘close’ to Killie chairman Billy Bowie. However, Naismith is said to have major competition for the role with former Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell, Aberdeen first-team coach Peter Leven and Killie Under-18s coach Chris Burke all said to be under consideration to succeed McInnes when or if he completes a switch to Hearts over the coming days. Burke led the Killie youngsters to their Scottish FA Youth Cup final win against Dundee earlier this month and there have been suggestions he could move into a first-team coach role alongside a new manager if he is not appointed into the latter of those roles. Speaking in November, just under two months after his departure from Hearts, Naismith said: “A lot of people spoke about how big the job was before I took it. As a person I'll evaluate everything, what are the pros and cons of going into any job? It was a big risk for me personally going in as a younger manager. “[There’s] two things you need to do is – one - get success but then when you do that, you need keep it there because if you don't pressure comes and you're going to lose your job. That's inevitably how it came about. I loved every minute of it. I thought we did a good job but at the cold end of it success and pressure and demands are there and if you don't hit them you're gonna lose your job and that’s what happened so I’m comfortable with it all. “I’ve reflected on a lot of the decisions you do learn a lot. As a player you think you know it all, you go into coaching and then there's other bits you go ‘that's different to what it was like as I thought as a player’ and then it's again, when you become a manager, it's different again but I loved it, loved every minute of it. I love the intensity of it and just disappointed because I thought we had, Hearts do have a good squad and I think they will come good this season.” Your next Hearts read: Hearts midfielder Beni Baningime asked for reassurance over Derek McInnes and says he hates facing Kilmarnock