Melbourne Heart have extended coach John Van ‘t Schip’s contract by three years, confirming he will be in charge when Manchester City take over the A-League club.

Van ‘t Schip will now coach the Heart until the end of the 2016-17 season.

He returned to the club in January after John Aloisi was sacked and the rescue mission has worked spectacularly well, with the Heart turning around their season in the past 11 rounds.

In their past nine games they have earned 20 of a possible 27 points with six wins, two draws and a loss.

Also in January, Manchester City announced they would become Heart’s majority owners in mid-year.

Van ‘t Schip, 50, was the Heart’s inaugural head coach and was in charge from 2009-11.

“The club is well positioned for the future,” the former Dutch international said in a club statement.

“My current focus is to finish this season as strongly as possible.”

City chief executive Ferran Soriano said Van ‘t Schip had shown he could make the Heart play good football.