Whelan To Stay At Stoke?

Former Plymouth Argyle transfer target Glenn Whelan has insisted he would like to stay at Stoke City and fight for a first-team place.

Argyle boss Paul Sturrock has been a long-time admirer of Whelan and tried to sign the midfield schemer from Sheffield Wednesday during the January transfer window but the offer was rejected and the Republic of Ireland international moved to Stoke in a £500,000 transfer.
However, following Stoke’s promotion to the Premier League Sturrock kept tabs on Whelan and was linked with a move for him in August but that approach also failed.

Since then there have been strong rumours that Whelan will eventually move to Home Park on-loan but after his goal-scoring performance in the mid-week Carling Cup game against Rotherham the midfielder wants to stay at the Britannia Stadium and fight for a first-team place.

Speaking after the Rotherham game Whelan explained: ‘I think I’m more than capable of forcing myself back into the team here.
I will just work hard and we’ll see how it goes from there. If you ask any player here they want to play every game, but obviously that’s not possible this year.
‘We’ve got a big squad and a lot of talented players so I’ll just wait for my chance. If I work hard and keep doing well then I’m sure my time will come.’

The 24-year old is determined to give Stoke boss Tony Pulis a selection problem, he continued: ‘Any chance you get to go out and play in front of the manager you want to do your best to break into the first team and give him a bit of a headache.
‘Over the last few weeks the team has done terrific and you can’t really complain but a lot of the other lads are keeping them on their toes.
‘I think the first team have to be ready because they know if they slip up then there are lads there waiting to nick their place and hopefully keep it.’

Whelan started the first game of Stoke’s Premier League campaign against Bolton but has made only three substitute appearances since then, although he has been a regular starter in the Carling Cup games.

The midfield play-maker started his career at Manchester City, but made only one substitute appearance for them. He had two loan spells with Bury during the 2003/04 season; making a total of 13 appearances, before moving to Sheffield Wednesday that summer, playing a total of 159 times for the Owls and scoring 16 goals.