Paul Heckingbottom: 'Christian Doidge signing is statement of intent'

"We think Christian's signing is a real statement of intent and I'm delighted we were able to fend off other interested clubs to secure his signature," said Heckingbottom.

"The recruitment staff here have been looking at Christian for a while now and he's also someone who was on my radar.

"We think he's well suited to Scottish football, whether that's leading the line or working with a partner.

"Christian is intelligent, has good movement, scores different types of goals, can handle himself physically and will press well from the front.

"He gives us something different up top."

Doidge admits he cannot wait to get down to work after meeting his new team-mates for the first time.

And he believes Heckingbottom is the man to take his career to the next level.

He said: "I felt like I knew exactly what he wanted from me within 10 seconds. He's very clear in his instructions and I think it will really suit my game.

"I'm looking forward to working under him.

"I like getting after the ball with a high work-rate, making a nuisance of myself for defenders and playing off the shoulder. I like to attack crosses – just an all-round number nine, really."

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Andy Newport, Press Association Sport');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'cccdcd4b-0a90-436c-a0b5-c4a923a3b092');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Heckingbottom believes Doidge signing is statement of intent'});