"It's a good opportunity for me footballing wise and also a good opportunity for me and my family, lifestyle wise," - states Perth Glory bound Aaron McEneff

The 27-year-old, who has signed a three year deal with A-League side Perth Glory, hopes to move Down Under in a few weeks time, ahead of the new season, which gets underway in October.

The former Derry City midfielder also concedes that while leaving Scottish Premiership side Hearts was a big decision, it's the right move as he wants to get back playing football regularly.

Last season, the Cornshell Field native, didn't feature as much in Robbie Neilson side as he would have liked, so he felt the chance to make the switch to Perth is a good opportunity to get his career back up and running.

"During the off-season I had the time to think about things and as I said before it's a really exciting time to be at Hearts, there's a lot to look forward to in terms of European football," he insisted.

"The fans and the players are buzzing and it's a great place to be, but in my opinion it's a great to be if you are really involved and you are going to be playing most games, whereas if you are on the periphery a wee bit, which I was last season and while things might have changed, I just wanted to be a wee bit proactive in my own career.

"When the talks came about that Perth Glory were interested then it was something that really excited me and it's a good opportunity for me footballing wise and also a good opportunity for me and family lifestyle wise as well."

McEneff, who launched this year's O'Neills Foyle Cup, also admits he and partner Ellen have already had a few chats and video calls with some family and friends who are already living in Perth and they can't speak highly enough about the city.

"Having had a few conversions with people and having spoke with Andy Keogh, (Perth Glory Head of Recruitment), he made the move out to Australia a few years ago and he did say that it's one of those things when you come out to Australia people do fall in love with the place and they don't come back," he added.

"I have signed a three year deal, so you never know I could end up staying out there for good, we'll just have to wait and see.

"Family wise the move is falling into place perfectly and my wee one (Pixie) is now one, so for me and my missus to take her and just have a general day to day life in Perth, when I'm at training, they can go for walks in the sun, sit down at the beach or sit at the pool or whatever, so it's a complete lifestyle change, but one that we're really, really excited about.

"As I said, once the move started to come about, both of us were buzzing with the prospect of getting away and now that everything is sorted we're delighted and we can't wait to get out there now."

The ex-Maiden City Soccer graduate, who made the switch to Edinburgh in January 2021, made a total 36 appearances for Hearts, scoring five goals. Opportunities became more limited after promotion back to the top flight though and he played 14 times in the league last campaign, most of which were from the bench.

"Obviously it was a big decision to make the switch to Hearts, who are massive club, and at the time they had the ambitions to get back into the top flight of Scottish football and then when we did that, it was about trying to climb to the highest point that we wanted in the SPL last year, we managed to finish third and get to the Scottish Cup Final, which meant it was a successful season for the club and it was really good to be part of that.

"Maybe at times personally I would have liked to have played a bit more and been involved a lot more, but I still made a decent contribution whenever I did play.

"So I have really enjoyed my time with Hearts, the players, staff and the supporters were superb to me and I wish them nothing but the best in the future."