CONFIRMED: Everton appoint Ronald Koeman as manager

After several weeks of intense negotiations Everton have finally confirmed the appointment of Ronald Koeman as the club's new manager.

Koeman leaves his role as Southampton boss to succeed Roberto Martinez, who was sacked last month after a disappointing campaign.

The deal also means coaches Erwin Koeman & Jan Kluitenberg will also move north to Merseyside, though Sammy Lee and Dave Watson are expected to stay with the Saints.

The appointment represents a real coup for new majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, who identified Koeman as his first choice almost as soon as Martinez was sacked.

The 53-year-old arrives with a burgeoning reputation after guiding Southampton to seventh and sixth place finishes during his two seasons in charge at St Mary's.

Koeman began his coaching career as assistant with the Netherlands national team before taking up a similar role at Barcelona. His first managerial role was at Vitesse in 2000 before spells at Ajax, Benfica, PSV, AZ and Feyenoord. He was won three Eredivisie titles, the Dutch Cup and Copa del Rey during his managerial career.

As a player Koeman was one of the Netherlands' greatest players of his generation,winning 78 international caps, scoring 14 goals, and helping his country win the European Championships in 1988.

The defender also won four Eredivisie, four La Liga titles and two European Cups during his playing career, including scoring the winning goal in the 1992 European Cup final for Barcelona.

Early indications suggested Koeman was unwilling to leave Southampton and had opened talks over a new contract at St Mary's.

However, that all seemed to change last week with the Dutchman appearing to be won over by the scale of Moshiri's ambition.

Koeman is reportedly set to earn in the region of £6million a year on Merseyside, more than doubling his Southampton wage, and has also been promised significant transfer funds by Moshiri to strengthen the squad.

Southampton were understandably reluctant to let Koeman go and demanded a fee in the region of £5million to buy out the final year of his contract.

The deal was also held up by Southampton's desire to insert a clause preventing Koeman from raiding his former club for their best players, though it has since been confirmed that there is no such agreement in place.

Koeman left for a second holiday at the start of last week and left the final negotiations in the hands of his agent Rob Jansen.

One of Koeman's first jobs will be to persuade the likes of Ross Barkley and John Stones to stay at the club. He will also talk to Romelu Lukaku, though the Belgian's frequent public outbursts suggests he is determined to move on regardless of the change in management at Goodison Park.

Koeman will get to keep all the proceeds of any player sales on top of what he has already been promised, meaning it looks set to be a busy and exciting summer ahead for Everton fans.