Stephen Ward reckons moving to Albion after two depressing seasons at Wolves could rekindle his international career with the Republic of Ireland.

Ward made the last of his 18 appearances for Giovanni Trapattoni’s team in a 1-0 friendly defeat at home to Greece nine months ago.

The left-back dropped out of contention as Wolves suffered a second successive relegation to fall into League One.

He has a big incentive to force his way back in, with Ireland still in the hunt to qualify for next summer’s World Cup in Brazil, and believes the season-long switch to the Seagulls could be just what he needs.

Ward, 28 today, told The Argus: “I spoke to the manager and explained the situation at Wolves and he wanted me to maybe move on and freshen myself up, because it’s been sort of doom and gloom there for the last two years.

“Psychologically it can be hard for the likes of myself and Kevin Doyle, coming from that, so I see this as a move in the right direction and hopefully my career can get back on track with a good club.

“When it was mentioned to me I was really excited about coming here, because I have admired the way they play, especially playing against them last year.

“They play the type of football any player wants to play. It’s an exciting challenge, a club that is going in the right direction, so I am delighted to be here and hopefully I can make a good impact and we can have a good season.”

Ward makes his home debut for Albion against Burnley at The Amex on Saturday after helping Oscar Garcia’s side to their first win of the season at Birmingham.

He will be up against former Wolves colleague and ex-Albion loan striker Sam Vokes, who continued Burnley’s unbeaten start with the clinching goal in their 2-0 home victory over promoted Yeovil.