Before Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Manchester United, we look at five notable players who returned to their former clubs amid great fanfare.
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On Friday (August 27), football fans were greeted with the stunning news of Cristiano Ronaldo returning to Manchester United. The news was doubly surprising given everyone thought he was heading to Manchester to sign for City. However, the Prodigal Son is now back and better than ever. As such, fans are giddy at the prospect of seeing him banging in goals for the club as soon as possible. Yet while Ronaldo’s return came as a shock, it’s worth noting that such deals are commonplace in football. Former players have often returned to their old haunting grounds, with resulst decidedly mixed.
Welcome ????, @Cristiano ?#MUFC | #Ronaldo
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 27, 2021
Before Cristiano Ronaldo, here are five notable players who returned to their former clubs amid great fanfare.
Before Cristiano Ronaldo came in and stole his limelight, Romelu Lukaku was set to be the highest-profile returnee of the summer. Lukaku, it’s worth noting, joined Chelsea as a promising prospect in 2011 but things never quite worked out for him. But after some time away at Everton, Manchester United and Inter Milan he is now back with the Blues.
Many see him as the missing piece of the Chelsea puzzle and he started life at the club with a goal against Arsenal. All the signs so far point to this being a successful – albeit expensive – bit of business for Chelsea. How much glory Lukaku will taste is the only thing that remains to be seen.
Before Ronaldo, the biggest return in Manchester United’s history was Paul Pogba. The talented French midfielder was a part of United’s yourth ranks but left and joined Juventus on a free. He established himself as one of the best in the world in Italy. Thus, United splashed the cash to ensure he returned to the side in 2016.
His time back at the club is seen as a mixed bag. He’s enjoyed a degree of success, yet there remains a feeling that he could have accomplished so much more. Yet, as things stand, he remains an integral part of the side. United fans will hope that him, Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes can combine to deadly effect.
We move now from players joining United to players leaving United. Gerard Pique had plenty of talent even as a youngster. Indeed, it was this talent that led him to leave boyhood club Barcelona and join Sir Alex Ferguson’s men. Many at the time saw him as a natural successor to Rio Ferdinand.
However, a lack of proper game time as well as a feeling of homesickness led to Pique rejoining Barcelona. It was there that he fulfilled his potential and became one of the greatest ball-playing centre-backs in the modern era. Indeed, despite an obvious decline in recent years, he remains an integral part of the side.
This was a short return that lasted only a year; however, it was one that was extremely successful for both club and player. Didier Drogba had left Chelsea after winning the Champions League in 2012. Stints at Shanghai Shenhua and Galatasaray soon followed. However, when the opportunity came to rejoin Chelsea in 2014, he grabbed it with both hands.
Now an elder statesman, Drogba saw limited playing time as he was a back-up to both Diego Costa and Loic Remy. However, his influence on a relatively younger group of players cannot be understated. He also scored a few more goals and added another League Cup and Premier League medal to his trophy haul. Not bad for a one-year return.
For fans who saw Borussia Dortmund as an alternative to the ever-dominant Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, one player who was steady presence for the Black and Yellow team was Marco Reus. A number of players came and left – many of them high-profile – but Reus stayed on. However, it is worth noting that he did leave the side once earlier in his career.
Reus, who was born in Dortmund and grew up a fan, left the team’s youth set-up to join Borussia Monchengladbach in 2009. But one successful four-year stint later and he was back at the Westfalenstadion, where he has remained till date. At this point, it seems likely the silky attacker will retire at the club closest to his heart.
