Striker Rob Hulse has become Derby County's latest summer signing after completing his move from Sheffield United in a deal worth £1.75m.

The 29-year-old puts pen to paper on a three-year contract and arrives at Pride Park looking to help fire the Rams back up to the Premier League.

Derby boss Paul Jewell is delighted to have the hit-man on board for the new season.

He said: "This is a terrific capture for us and I am really excited to have added a player of Rob Hulse's calibre to our squad.

"Rob is a player I've admired for a very long time and tried to sign on more than one occasion in the past.

"He has tremendous attributes as a forward; strong, brave, athletic and an eye for goal.

"His attitude is also first-class and he is hungry to return to the highest level and to do it with Derby County.

"It barely took any persuading to get Rob to join Derby County. He knows this is a huge club with great ambition and his ambition and desire matches ours."

Derby have been the Coca-Cola Championship's busiest side in terms of transfers so far with Hulse joining an already impressive list of captures.

Defenders Martin Albrechtsen, Jordan Stewart and Paul Connolly are raring to go, along with midfield foursome Kris Commons, Steve Davies, Paul Green and Ruben Zadkovich.

And he adds further strength to the striking options with Nathan Ellington and Liam Dickinson also new faces, while Tito Villa is another who will be hoping to make an impact this season.

Jewell is happy with the level of competition for places and feels the four give him plenty of variety.

"Adding Rob to the squad gives us some excellent options with the forwards and all of them have very different qualities and strengths," he added.

"When I have got teams promoted to the Premier League before I have always had great competition for places with the strikers and we are on course for having that here at Derby."

Hulse began his career with Crewe Alexandra where he came through their fabled youth system and progressed to the first-team under Dario Gradi.

A tally of 47 goals in 129 games alerted numerous clubs but West Bromwich Albion snapped him up in the summer of 2003 for £750,000.

Hulse played a vital role in helping the Baggies win promotion to the Premier League in his first season before going on to feature seven times in the top-flight.

He spent the last three months of 2004/05 on loan to Leeds United and completed a £1.1m move to Elland Road that summer.

A further 14 goals followed as Leeds reached the play-off final but a return to the Premier League arrived with a move to Sheffield United for £2.2m in July 2006.

Hulse was earning plenty of plaudits for his top-flight performances with the Blades and had netted eight goals before his season was cruelly ended by a badly broken leg sustained at Chelsea.

He returned to action in December last year and featured a further 24 times.

Hulse's overall career record stands at 92 goals in 289 games.