When Paul Pogba left Manchester United in 2012 on a free transfer to Juventus, no person in their right mind could have guessed in their wildest imagination that he may be returning on a €110 million transfer deal. The amount of money involved is exorbitant to say the least and many in the football world have called into question the wisdom of this decision, especially since United had let him go in the first place. But they’re not the only ones.
Football clubs, over the decades, have shown a proclivity to let go of their younger and better players only to buy them back later. Call it an error in judgement or short-sightedness, here’s a look at 24 football players who were signed back by their former clubs
#24 Ian Rush
One of Liverpool’s greatest, Ian Rush signed for Liverpool from Chester City for a record fee of £300,000 in April 1980 and finally debuted later that year in Dcember. Even though he signed for Juventus in 1986, he continued playing for Liverpool until finally moving to his new Italian club in 1987.
After just one season with Juventus, Ian Rush moved back to Liverpool in 1988 for a record-breaking fee of £2.7 million and remained there till 1996.
#23 Mark Hughes
Mark Hughes joined Manchester United as a young player straight out of school and quickly broke into the first team. He played for the Red Devils until he was sold to Barcelona for £2 million in 1986.
He proved to be ineffective during his first season and was quickly loaned to Bayern Munich. He returned to Manchester United which was now managed by newly apointed manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, in 1988 for a club record of £1.8 million and spent the most successful portion of his career there.
#22 Graeme Le Saux
Graeme Le Saux signed for Chelsea in 1987 and was a regular in the first team by the 1990-91 season. He started as a left winger but spent the majority of his career as a leftback.
Chelsea let him go to Blackburn Rovers for a deal worth £700,000 in 1993, after he reacted unfavourably to being substituted by then Chelsea manager Ian Porterfield. He returned to the southwest London club in 1997 for £5 million making him the most expensive defender in English football.
#21 Juninho Paulista
Juninho was just 22 when he signed for Middlesbrough in 1995 for £4.75 million and he sealed his place as one of the best in the club’s history. Even though he left for Atletico Madrid in 1997, he was loaned back to his former club during the 1999-00 season. He finally left Atletico in 2002 and headed back to Middlesbrough for a fee of £6 million.
#20 Teddy Sheringham
Teddy Sheringham moved to Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £2.1 million from Nottingham Forest in 1992. He moved to Manchester United in 1997 as a replacement for Eric Cantona but moved back to Spurs after he struggled to remain in the first team after the arrival of Dutch forward Ruud van Nistelrooy.
He moved back to Tottenham in 2001 on a free transfer and was later inducted into their Hall of Fame 2008.
#19 Robbie Fowler
Robbie Fowler signed for Liverpool as a youth team player and was one of the infamous ‘Spice Boys’ during his successful tenure there. He moved to Leeds United for a transfer sum of £12 million in 2001 after feeling redundant upon the arrival of Michael Owen and Emile Heskey.
He moved back to Liverpool on a free transfer in January of 2006 making it a dream return for both fans and Fowler.
#18 Nicolas Anelka
Nicolas Anelka started his career at Paris Saint-Germain only to move to Arsenal for a sum of £500,000 when he was just 17 in 1997. After stints at Arsenal and Real Madrid, he returned to PSG for a deal worth £22 million but left the club yet again due to problems with the manager Luis Fernandez.
#17 Peter Crouch
Peter Crouch was re-signed by not one but two former clubs! Crouch signed a senior team contract with Tottenham Hotspur in 1998 after making appearances for their youth team. He never actually made any appearance for Spurs and spent his two years there away on loan.
In 2001, Portsmouth acquired the services of Crouch for £1.5 million from Queens Park Rangers. By the end of the 2007-08 season, Crouch had found his way to Liverpool and in July of 2008, he moved back to Portsmouth only to return to his first club Tottenham Hotspurs in 2009.
#16 Cesc Fabregas
Cesc Fabregas grew up playing in Barcelona’s youth academy, La Masia, alongside Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique. He enjoyed great success with the youth team but chose to move to Arsenal’s academy in 2003.
He debuted there as a 16 year old, made captain in 2008 and then eventually moved back to Barcelona in 2011. Fabregas returned to his hometown club, Barcelona, for a sum of £29 million and other fees.
#15 Joe Cole
Joe Cole was an integral part of the youth team at West Ham United and made his senior team debut at the age of 17 in 1999. He was made captain at 21 in 2003 only to move to Chelsea 8 months later.
He spent seven very successful years at Chelsea after joining the club for £6.6 million. He eventually made a return to West Ham as a free agent in 2013 on an 18 month deal.
#14 Gerard Pique
A Catalonian by birth, Gerard Pique started playing football in Barcelona’s La Masia youth academy but signed professional contract with Manchester United. He played for United for four years before moving back to Barcelona in 2008 for a transfer fee of £5 million. Since then he has won a total number of 23 titles with the club; going back was a decision that really paid off.
#13 Shaun Wright-Phillips
Shaun Wright-Phillips moved to Manchester City from Nottingham Forest at the age of 17 in 1999. He earned great distinction during his time there until he moved to Chelsea in 2005 for a sum of £21million. After spending three years there, he moved back to Manchester City in 2008 for a sum of £8.5 million appoximately.
#12 Carlos Tevez
Carlos Tevez debuted for Boca Juniors in 2001 when he was just 16 and was later touted as the heir to Diego Maradona. He left the club for Corinthians in 2005. Tevez would find himself flitting from one club to another as he couldn’t stay away from controversies wherever he went, in spite of quite a lot of goal scoring success.
He finally returned to Boca Juniors in 2015 after a successful spell at Juventus for a transfer fee of €6.5 million.
#11 Marco Reus
Marco Reus joined the Borussia Dortmund youth team in 1999 when he was just seven. His first move came in 2006 to the Rot Weiss Ahlen U-19 team. Thereafter he moved to Borussia Monchengladbach and finally to Borussia Dortmund in 2012.
He signed a five year contract, reportedly worth €21 million. He signed a contract extension in 2015 that is set to keep him at the club till 2019.
#10 Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry moved from Juventus in 1999 to Arsenal for a transfer sum of £11 million. Despite a slow start there, Henry had started showing signs of his ability late in his first season with the Gunners. After leading Arsenal to unprecedented glory for a number of years, he moved to Barcelona.
During his time at the New York Red Bulls, he was signed on loan by the Gunners to fill a gap in their team due to injury to players in January 2012. Even though he was on loan for just two months, he did not fail to create an impact on the team.
#9 Robbie Keane
Robbie Keane joined Tottenham Hotspur on transfer deadline day in 2002 and enjoyed varying degrees of success at the White Hart Line. He left Spurs in 2008 only to return in February of 2009 on a four year contract for a transfer sum of £12 million and variables.
He played few games for Spurs during those four years as he spent a large part of his time playing on loan for Celtic and then West Ham.
#8 Jermain Defoe
Jermain Defoe joined Tottenham Hotspur in January 2004 from London rivals West Ham for a sum of £6 million and remained there for four years before moving to Portsmouth. His return to Tottenham came a year later along with the return of another former signing, Robbie Keane.
Defoe remained at the club till January 2014 after which he moved to Major League Soccer in U.S.A.
#7 Mats Hummels
Mats Hummels joined the Bayern Munich youth academy when he was just seven years old and played his first Bundesliga match for the Munich club.
He initially joined Dortmund on loan in 2008 but a permanent deal was worked out in 2009 when they signed him for €4 milllion. After giving some of his best years to the club, Hummels sealed a deal to return to Bayern Munich in July 2016 for the next five years.
#6 Ricardo Kaka
Kaka’s most successful years were spent playing for AC Milan. He moved to Milan in 2003 for a deal worth €8.5 million. He spent six seasons at the club before moving to Real Madrid. Kaka was a free agent in 2013 and chose to go back to his former club AC Milan on a two year contract. During his two spells at the club, Kaka cemented his place as one of the best Brazilian attacking players of all time.
#5 Steven Pienaar
After struggling during his first seaon at Borussia Dortmund, Pienaar was signed on loan by Everton in 2007. A year later, Pienaar made a more permanent move to Everton for the next three years. He impressed for the Toffees resulting in a transfer to Tottenham.
On account of a bad season due to injuries, Pienaar returned once again to Everton on loan in January 2012 and signed a contract with them for a transfer later that year.
#4 Nemanja Matic
Nemanja Matic moved from the Slovak team MFK Kosice to Chelsea in 2009 on a four year contract for a transfer sum of €1.5 million. Unable to make much headway in the team, he was loaned to the Dutch club, Vitesse in 2010. In 2011, he was sold to Benfica only to move back to Chelsea in January 2014 for the whopping price of €25 million on a five and a half year contract.
#3 Dani Carvajal
Dani Carvajal joined the Real Madrid youth academy as a ten year old and went on to captain Real Madrid B in 2010 and restore their place in the second divison of Spanish football after an absence of five years. However, he failed to make it to the senior team and was sold to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 2012. After an impressive season at the German club, Real Madrid exercised their buy-back clause and brought him back to the club for a transfer fee of €6.5 million.
#2 Didier Drogba
Didier Drogba moved to Chelsea in 2004 for a transfer fee of £24 million from Marseille and served the club well until his departure in 2012. He was the spearhead of one of the most sucessful Chelsea squads of all time.
Before he left, he gave his club and fans the much-awaited gift of the Champions League and cemented his place in the southwest London club’s history. Unable to stay away from the club he loved so dearly, Drogba moved back to Chelsea on a free transfer in 2014 and gave his best to the club for another year.
#1 Mario Gotze
Mario Gotze joined the Borussia Bortmund youth academy as an eight year old. He quickly made his way into the first team in 2010 under the guidance of Jurgen Klopp. He became a part of the core players behind the success of Dortmund for the next three years.
In 2013, he left for Bayern Munich but barely got much game time. He moved back to his childhood club in July 2016 on a four year contract.
