Rob Atkinson insists he will "attack" the challenge of stepping up to the Championship head on after signing for Bristol City from Oxford United on Saturday.
After several weeks of discussions, Robins boss Nigel Pearson has finally got his man with the 22-year-old following Matty James and Andy King as City's recruitment operation has moved into gear over the last two weeks.
Atkinson, who was also reportedly a transfer target for Celtic, has signed a three-year contract for City, with the option of a fourth, after an outstanding first full campaign for Oxford in League One in which he made 41 appearances and was named in the PFA Team of the Year.
City and Oxford have not disclosed the fee paid for the centre-half, but Bristol Live understands it is in the region of £1.6million.
“I’m excited and looking forward to playing in the Championship," Atkinson told Robins TV.
"It’s another step up and I’ve done plenty of those in my career. I’ll be attacking it the same as I always have - that’s head on, working hard and hopefully it will go just as well as my previous step-ups.
“I’ve tried to learn from my peers and players in my position so it’s good to hear there’s experience in players in my position, the gaffer being a centre-back himself when he played, so I can learn from him too,” he said.
“It’s not just the centre-backs, but the strikers too. There’s quality up front here and I’m sure in the first few training sessions they’ll teach me a thing or two and I can learn from them, so there’s plenty to learn in these first few weeks.”
Atkinson now forms an ever-increasingly strong centre-back complement for Pearson alongside Tomas Kalas, Taylor Moore, Robbie Cundy, utility man Zak Vyner and Nathan Baker, who signed a new two-year contract last week.
In terms of their summer business so far, City have signed midfielders James and King on free transfers and renewed the contracts of Baker, Andi Weimann and Danny Simpson.
At the start of June, Pearson declared that he wanted five signings this summer - two centre-backs, two central midfielders and a striker; Atkinson, Baker, King and James appear to have covered 80% of that request, leaving just a frontman to be added.
That may naturally take more time, given how in-demand strikers are, but with four of the five through the door - albeit with potential exits meaning more business may need to be done - Pearson has achieved his wish to get most of his business done early.
