Glenn Whelan: Midfielder had offers from abroad before choosing Hearts

Hearts and Republic of Ireland midfielder Glenn Whelan admits he had offers from clubs overseas.
Whelan premiered by Aston Villa after their promotion to the Premier League in the summer, before joining Hearts on a one-year-contract in August.
The 35-year-old confessed he consulted Ireland manager Mick McCarthy prior to determining which team to join in a bid to prolong his international career.
Whelan said:I talked to the supervisor. I had one or two options abroad that were very interesting at the moment.
The boss was not too keen to be fair since the league wasnt likely as powerful as where Im playing or where I was in. He needs me trying to play competitively as much and as high as I can.
If it was down to money Id be gone – in sunlight somewhere at the moment. However, for me it has never been about cash or earning a wage.
Im happy playing football and that is all that I want to do, so for me it was all about getting the club for the family members and to have a chance playing Ireland.
Should Ireland qualify for the European Championships their group fixtures will be staged from the Aviva Stadium of Dublin and Whelan insists this was a large factor for him when picking Hearts.
He said:I wish to play Ireland at the Euros, therefore that I talked to a few people and I think ultimately, Hearts was the ideal choice for me personally.
Even when I spoke to the Hearts boss I told him basically I wish to play so long as I am as large as I can because Id like to get a great probability of qualifying and Id really like to be around and be part of it.
I think that itll suit me. The manager at Hearts was really great to me, hes given me time off to go and see the family and move and spend hours down so it has been OK.
Top of Group D currently sit with 11 points from their five matches, however, they face competition for the two Euro 2020 qualification places from Switzerland and Denmark.
Whelan added:We are still miles away [qualifying]. Weve got three massive games. Obviously the place that we are in is a position that is great but we know which may be removed from us.
It is an important game off to Georgia. Get the ideal result there and that will give us confidence going into the other , but youve got to just take every match as it comes.
Ireland will journey to play Georgia on Saturday before a fixture three days after, the two matches live on Sky Sports.

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