BRISTOL City signing Brett Pitman wants to follow in Nicky Maynard's footsteps and become the Championship's next big thing.

Recruited from Crewe Alexandra for a club-record fee of £2.25 million two years ago, Cheshire-born hit-man Maynard took a while to establish himself before taking the English second tier by storm last season, when he netted 20 league goals to finish joint top scorer with Cardiff City ace Peter Whittingham.

There are similarities between the pair, Pitman having also learned his trade in the lower leagues with Bournemouth before making the step-up to the Championship.

Like Maynard, pictured below, it was Pitman's prolific scoring record that eventually persuaded a bigger club to invest hard cash in his potential. City have cut a deal which could eventually see them pay up to £800,000 for the 22-year-old Jersey-born striker.

Ambitious and confident in his own ability, Pitman is determined to start re-paying that fee immediately.

He said: "I remember playing against Nicky a few times when I was with Bournemouth and he was with Crewe and I always thought he was a very good player.

"Nicky has shown that it is possible to make that leap from the lower divisions to the Championship and his goalscoring record last season was fantastic. I saw some of his goals on TV and I want to be like him."

Schooled by talent-finder extraordinaire Dario Gradi at Gresty Road, and since improved by former City boss Gary Johnson and current manager Keith Millen, Maynard shows every sign of being a Premier League striker in the making.

Pitman signed for Bournemouth as a 16-year-old schoolboy, since when he has honed his skills under the tutelage of Cherries manager Eddie Howe. And having helped the south coast club achieve automatic promotion from League Two last season, he is intent upon firing City's push for Premier League status.

"I want to play at the very top and that's why I've come here," said Pitman, who netted 62 goals in 197 appearances for Bournemouth.

"There are already some very good strikers at this club and, when Nicky Maynard is back fit and playing, there will be real competition for places. That is a good thing and it is something you need if you are going to be promoted.

"David Clarkson and Danny Haynes are already here, Jon Stead has just arrived and I know I'm going to have to fight just to get in the team.

"Hopefully, I'll play at Ipswich on Saturday, but if not, I'll just have to come off the bench and show what I can do.

"It's going to be a steep learning curve for me to begin with, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. I look at what Nicky has achieved and I know the sky is the limit."

Millen has no doubts that, once Maynard has recovered from the knee injury that is likely to rule him out until December, he will prove an effective spearhead alongside Pitman.

He said: "People think they are similar because they both score goals, but they are quite different players.

"Nicky does a lot of his best work outside of the penalty areas and a lot of his goals are scored from range, whereas Brett is more of a poacher and scores a lot from close in.

"I don't see any problem with those two playing up front together when the time comes."