Roberto Martínez intends to offer Jack Rodwell a summer return to Everton following the midfielder's struggle to make an impact at Manchester City.

Rodwell switched from Goodison Park to the Etihad Stadium 19 months ago in a deal worth an initial £12m, rising to £15m. His time at City has been a major disappointment, however, and Martínez hopes to capitalise on the boyhood Evertonian's frustrations by bringing him back to Merseyside on a permanent contract at the end of this season.

The midfielder, who turns 23 on Tuesday, has been unable to secure a regular first-team place with the Capital One Cup winners and has found himself out of favour under Manuel Pellegrini as well as dogged by the hamstring problems that plagued his development at Everton. Rodwell has made eight appearances since Pellegrini replaced Roberto Mancini at the Etihad with the last ending in a half-time substitution as City trailed Watford 2-0 in the FA Cup fourth round before prevailing 4-2.

Everton tried to re-sign Rodwell on the final day of the January transfer window but were thwarted when City were unable to land the Brazilian midfielder Fernando, and his team-mate Eliaquim Mangala, from Porto. That proposal was for a loan deal, with Everton turning Gareth Barry's temporary move from City into a £1m permanent transfer to overcome the Premier League rule that prevents a club loaning two players from the same team.

Rodwell has not featured for City since Everton's inquiry and the England international's prospects of making Roy Hodgson's World Cup squad have all but disappeared given his problems at club level. The Everton manager believes the Southport-born player will be receptive to a return to Goodison in the summer but City would have to accept a significant loss on Rodwell for the deal to proceed.

Martínez has been heavily reliant on Barry and James McCarthy in central midfield this season and it was the former's tired challenge that gave Arsenal a pivotal penalty in Saturday's FA Cup exit at the Emirates. Everton's once-promising campaign has faltered badly since January with the club slipping to seventh in the Premier League, albeit with a game in hand on sixth-placed Manchester United.

Defeats at Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in the league have pushed Everton out of contention for Champions League qualification but Martínez claims his team have improved.

"I think at the beginning of the season you get those teams who are expected to win titles because of the financial approach," he said. "We are in a position where, because of our football club and our history, we should be expecting to win titles. It is going to be a bit of a process but I think you saw we are not far from being able to go to Arsenal and be able to get through to an FA Cup semi-final.

"Now it's a matter of making sure the small margins get affected in our favour and we can progress without expecting to go into big places like the Emirates and be beaten. The performances are showing that we're starting to develop that belief so the next stage is to be able to reflect it in the scoreline."