Everton will not try to renew Christian Atsu's loan from Chelsea next season after the English side failed to give the Ghanaian playing time.
But the Blues will pursue fresh short-term deals in the summer as Roberto Martinez looks to boost the numbers in his squad.
Atsu has made just 13 appearances this term as injury, form and time spent at the Africa Cup of Nations prevented him building any momentum at Goodison Park.
Martinez was hoping the 23-year-old would have a similar impact to that of Gerard Deulofeu, who spent last season on loan from Barcelona.
But Atsu has only been able to show flashes of his quality, with his best performances of the campaign coming when on international duty.
It is understood that Atsu, who signed for Chelsea in 2013 but has yet to play for the Stamford Bridge club, could push for a move away from London this summer.
Atsu's struggles forced Martinez into making a deadline day swoop for Aaron Lennon in January and the Spurs winger plays the final game of his successful loan spell tomorrow at West Ham.
And the Everton boss told the ECHO loans are likely to form part of his transfer strategy again this summer.
"It could do because, in terms of numbers, we know exactly how many players we need," Martinez said.
"The loan market can help you to wrap the whole squad within the means we have and that is always an opportunity to be really strong without relying on the finances.
"The loans we had, the impressive aspect, is that the dressing room allowed them to be themselves, feel important and that connection with the fans has been impressive.
"From Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry, with Aaron Lennon of late and Gerard Deulofeu - the figure of a loan player really works at our football club.
"So it is something, at the right time, we need to keep exploring it."
Atsu was playing in the Premier League for the first time this season and despite finding it tough, Martinez is convinced he will develop into a "special footballer".
"Christian is a very, very talented young man," Martinez said recently.
"You always get that uncertainty when you are coming from a foreign league.
"Adapting to the Premier League will always take a period; sometimes more, sometimes less.
"But Christian will become a very special footballer.
"He has all the attributes and showed it in flashes at Porto, when he played consistently at Vitesse, when he was named Player of the Tournament at the Africa Cup of Nations with Ghana - Christian is very talented.
"For one reason or another, we haven't been able to give him that continuity that you need. But his attitude is terrific and I hope in the last two games, I hope he can finish the season strong with us because his playing time hasn't been as big as we expected.
"But I'm sure the experience will benefit him immensely."
He added: "We had the period when he went with Ghana and he came back and I thought the game against Leicester was his most influential period.
"He got a bit of an illness that kept him out. He had a real opportunity, starting in the Europa League against Kiev but it was a bit of an unfortunate game to be involved in."
Did that game knock his confidence?
"Maybe," Martinez said.
"You need to be lucky because you are relying on the other 10 players to allow you to play well.
"But the attitude and the focus of the player are of the highest standard."