St Mirren Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of goalkeeper Jacob Chapman on a deal until summer 2028 subject to international clearance.
The 25-year-old joins the club from Huddersfield Town on an initial two-year deal, with the club holding an option of a further year.
Beginning his career in his native Australia, Jacob joined Huddersfield in 2019 and subsequently had loan spells with Gateshead, Salford City, Rochdale and Crawley Town.
The shot-stopper made 28 appearances in his time at the Terriers, keeping 10 clean sheets. Last season, the Australian goalkeeper kept nine clean sheets in 20 appearances for Crawley Town in English League two.
Jacob becomes our fourth signing of the summer after the captures of Samuel Ramos, Ryan Carr and Chris Mochrie.
Speaking to stmirren.com, Jacob said: "I’m absolutely over the moon to be here.
"As soon as it came up, I knew it was the right move for me for a number of reasons. So yeah, very happy to be here and can't wait to just get going and meet all the lads properly and get to know everyone and just get cracking really.
The league's great with the games you play and St Mirren's obviously a very good club. You don't win a cup for no reason.
"I know some of the boys and they gave me fantastic references on everyone here, coaches and people around the club, which is massive. The environment is very important to get success, in my opinion.
It's just a fantastic opportunity, one that I'd be silly not to take. I'm very grateful it came up and I just can't wait to get going."
Manager Craig McLeish added: "I’m delighted to have Jacob with us.
It was something I felt really strongly about with the recruitment side of things, we wanted to find a permanent goalkeeper.
"We've had loans for the last three seasons or so and it feels like we're developing goalkeepers for other clubs and not getting a long-term benefit from it. Our specific targets were to find someone at a really good age, like Jacob, who has development still to do. We get really good use out of him but ultimately, we want Jacob to get to the highest level that he wants to get to.
"He's been in and around the Australia national team squads and training camps. That's one of the goals that we've set, can we turn Jacob into a full international.
We really like a lot about his game. He's an all-rounder and a very good shot-stopper. He's really comfortable on the ball and helps us build and helps us play. But that's not the main thing for the goalkeeper. The main thing is his goalkeeping attributes and we're really excited about him coming in."
