MIDFIELDER Tom Whelan has left Weymouth to join Chesterfield for an undisclosed fee.

Chesterfield have triggered a clause in Whelan’s Weymouth contract and personal terms were agreed early on Tuesday.

Echosport understands the fee paid runs into five figures for the former Yeovil man who made 27 appearances, scoring four times.

Whelan has been named on the bench for the Spireites' Vanarama National League home game with Aldershot tonight (7pm).

Weymouth’s current top scorer this season netted the winners in 2-1 victories over Stockport County and King’s Lynn Town this season.

Whelan becomes part of the Spireites’ rebuild under James Rowe, who has already taken striker Akwasi Asante with him from Gloucester City.

Weymouth have plenty of cover in central midfield with Jake McCarthy, Jordan Ngalo, Josh Wakefield plus Andreas Robinson all experienced choices.

Speaking to Echosport, Weymouth boss Brian Stock admitted he did not rebuff Whelan’s desire for full-time football.

He said: “When I first came into the club my message was to give everyone a chance. 

“You look at the players’ reactions, training and the biggest thing that sticks out with me with Tom was his attitude to training.

“Whether he would play, didn’t play he’d look disappointed but never moaned. His reaction was to go out in training and make me think.

“I relayed that to Tom and gave him a message as he left, as if to say ‘you need to remember that, what got you back into the team.’

“He started the season at Altrincham not even getting on the pitch. Attitudes in training, managers understand how much it means to play.

“He made my mind up to get in the team. When you look at his contribution, we turned him into a box-to-box midfield player – asked a lot of him to make some more forward runs.

“He got a great winning goal at Stockport and he’s tucked away two penalties nicely.

“Yes, he’s our top goalscorer but he goes with my best wishes. He’s been a good lad and I think he’ll do well at Chesterfield.

“Tom’s made no secret of the fact that he wants to play full-time football – that’s been his ambition for quite some time.

“He’s going to achieve that with Chesterfield who, with them, Stockport and Notts County, are probably the biggest club in the league.

“It’s a great move for Tom and I wish him all the best.”

Stock added he would use the funds received from the transfer to bolster other areas on the pitch.

“When I first came to the club, you’ve got five strong midfield players,” he said.

“Some people have found themselves out of the squad and it gives them another opportunity – not to say I won’t replace Tom if the right person comes along.

“I do think there are one or two other areas in the squad that need strengthening and it gives me the opportunity to look elsewhere and bring one or two in.”