Everton look set to miss out on Lucas Perez for the second summer transfer window in a row, as the Spaniard seems set to rejoin Deportivo La Coruna.

Last summer, as the window started to draw to a close, Everton made a move for Lucas and had almost managed to agree the final details before Arsenal joined the discussions and snapped him up, as we reported at the time.

Now, after a fairly promising year in terms of stats but one which didn’t involve nearly enough game time, Lucas appears to be on the move again. Only a year on from their initial interest, Everton decided to try again and put in a bid for the striker.

However, Deportivo manager Pepe Mel has seemingly confirmed that Deportivo are the most likely to land the player at this point. He was quoted by Football.London as saying: “[Deportivo President] Tino Fernandez has told me that Lucas Perez will be here next week, and he is very stubborn. I have no choice but to believe him.”

This comes after Everton were already forced to admit defeat over the signing of Gunners’ striker Olivier Giroud, so Arsenal certainly haven’t been good negotiating partners for the Merseyside club.

Although, with Wayne Rooney scoring in both of his Premier League games since returning to Goodison Park, Everton probably aren’t too upset about failing to land another striker at this moment in time.