West Brom sign Australia defender Jason Davidson

London: West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday announced that they have signed Australia international defender Jason Davidson after he resolved a contract dispute with former club Heracles Almelo.

Davidson, 23, felt that he was a free agent after coming to the end of his contract with Heracles, but the Dutch club informed him that they had taken up an option to extend his contract by a year. As a result, West Brom were obliged to pay an undisclosed fee for the left-back, who has signed a two-year contract with an option for a further year. "Due to contractual issues with his former club, there`s been a delay in Jason coming," West Brom manager Alan Irvine told the club website. "This means he hasn`t trained properly since the World Cup, so he`s going to need a little bit of time to catch up before we can expect him to perform at the levels he`s capable of. "But he is a good defender who has lots of energy, gets forward well, and will give us competition for places at left-back with Sebastien Pocognoli." Melbourne-born Davidson, who made three appearances for Australia at the World Cup, is West Brom`s seventh close-season signing. As well as Pocognoli, West Brom have also signed Craig Gardner, Joleon Lescott, Chris Baird, Brown Ideye and Andre Wisdom. Having avoided relegation by three points last season, West Brom open their 2014-15 campaign at home to Sunderland a week on Saturday.