"The national team is a bonus, my dream is Deportivo," Angeliño said back in 2020, long before there was any concrete prospect of it happening.
That dream now looks set to come true: 14 years after leaving Abegondo for Manchester City, José Ángel Esmorís Tasende, better known as Angeliño, 29, is on the verge of returning to the club where it all began.
Financially, this was never going to be straightforward for a newly promoted side, and the deal only came together after lengthy negotiation with AS Roma over a structure Deportivo La Coruna could actually afford. The solution is a loan with an option to buy set at around €2.5m, per reports in Italy.
Sporting director Fernando Soriano had targeted the Coristanco-born full-back as far back as 13 June, and personal terms with the player were agreed some time ago; the sticking point throughout was arranging Angeliño's exit from Roma, a process his own desire to come home helped accelerate, especially once he fell out of the Italian club's pre-season plans altogether.
He is expected to join Antonio Hidalgo's squad at their training camp in Florence, where Deportivo have been based at Coverciano since Sunday, arriving in time to link up with his new team-mates on Monday.
Angeliño's career since leaving Galicia has taken in Manchester City, PSV, Roma, Galatasaray and Leipzig, giving him a level of Champions League pedigree that is otherwise scarce in Deportivo's squad.
Deportivo's academy produced him before City came calling in 2013, when he was just 15, a departure that brought the club close to €800,000 in training compensation and sell-on percentages over the years since. His only previous spell playing in Spain came on loan at Mallorca in 2016-17, and his final season at Roma was disrupted by acute bronchitis that wiped out much of the campaign; he made just seven Serie A appearances, returning from illness in March only to feature for 27 minutes across two matches for the rest of the season.
His arrival follows Deportivo's earlier capture of veteran forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, continuing a summer in which the newly promoted club has aimed well above its usual market.