Stay in control of the latest Blues news with our Everton newsletter Sign up now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Everton manager Ronald Koeman is coming back in for Olivier Giroud in January and will this time will get his man say the Sunday Mirror.

Neil Moxley writes that the Blues boss will push through a £40million deal for the Arsenal striker in the New Year having failed to land a replacement for Romelu Lukaku in the summer.

Giroud, who is understood to have been Everton's number one target, has admitted that he was close to leaving the Emirates having declared: “It was a private decision. It’s true I was close to leaving because I wanted to play.

“But after a big reflection with everyone around me like my family and close friends, I wanted to stay at Arsenal.

“I thought the story was not over at Arsenal. The club has given me a lot, I want to win some more trophies.

“As I said to the boss, our story is not finished, and everyone was pleased with that.”

Ronald Koeman admitted he thought Everton had landed their first choice target to replace Lukaku – understood to be Giroud – over the summer.

He said: “I cannot explain why (we didn’t sign a striker). I thought we had our option one in, and I was really disappointed by that.”

It's believed that Arsene Wenger played his part in blocking Giroud's move to Merseyside because he doubted that Alexis Sanchez would stay.

However, the Mirror reckons with Arsenal's record signing and compatriot Alexandre Lacazette barring Giroud's path to the first-team, the striker needs to be playing to cement his place in the France World Cup team – and in January the long-mooted move is set to get the go-ahead.