Manager Kevin Blackwell agreed to sell his former Leeds United striker for £1.75m and may now sign Watford's Darius Henderson as a replacement.

Hulse said: "It was time to move on. He (Blackwell) said that he wouldn't stand in the way if a club comes in and that I wasn't perhaps one of his first-choice strikers.

"That's fair enough – that happens sometimes in football – and it was a case of Derby coming in and I jumped at the chance because I just wanted to get things going again."

Hulse became the tenth new signing of the summer by Derby who are seeking to win an immediate return to the Premier League.

Manager Paul Jewell 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.

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

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

Dutch striker Diego Biseswar, 20, has joined the Blades on trial from Dutch club Feyenoord. Jamaican international Luton Shelton, meanwhile, is finalising a move to Norwegian club Valerenga after failing to make an impact at Bramall Lane.

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