DAVID MOYES will intensify his search for a new striker after allowing James Vaughan to rejoin Crystal Palace on loan for the remainder of the season.

Vaughan has returned to Selhurst Park after spending three months with the Londoners during the first half of the campaign.

And should the second spell prove as successful as his first, in which he scored five goals including a first career hat-trick, then Palace have the option to make the switch permanent in the summer.

Celtic were poised to take Vaughan on loan last week until the move was scuppered by FIFA regulations.

The 22-year-old’s late substitute appearance in the Merseyside derby 11 days ago was his first appearance of the season for Everton and meant he could not play for a third different club during the campaign.

Vaughan, who still has 18 months remaining on his Goodison contract, became the Premier League’s youngest-ever goalscorer when netting on his debut against Palace in April 2005.

With Yakubu and Steven Pienaar already departed this month, Moyes now faces a race against time to bolster his striking options before the transfer window slams shut on Monday evening.

However, it appears interest in Monaco striker Dieumerci Mbokani will come to nothing after the French side claimed the Congolese will move to Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg.

Monaco’s general manager Marc Keller said: “Dieumerci Mbokani will be joining VfL Wolfsburg. He has already been travelling to the club.”

Meanwhile, another Everton striker, Victor Anichebe, has vowed to push on his Goodison career as he prepares for a notable milestone.

Saturday’s FA Cup fourth round visit of Chelsea will mark the fifth anniversary of Anichebe’s first appearance for Everton – against the same opposition at the same stage of the same competition.