6 brilliant players whose romantic return to an old club aged like milk: Pogba, Cannavaro…
Some of football’s biggest stars have tried to craft the perfect ending to their career with a move back to where it all began, but it doesn’t always pay off.
It’s an admirable thing to go back to the club where you started or enjoyed the most success in a bid to finish the story in true, romantic fashion. However, there’s something to be said for leaving the book closed and not tarnishing a legacy.
While we admire the desire for the storybook ending, perhaps these six footballers would’ve been better chasing one final paycheque.
Paul Pogba
People will argue that Pogba’s return to Manchester United qualifies for ‘aged like milk’ status and while it did end badly, it started brilliantly.
Instead, we’re focused on his return to Juventus on a free transfer in 2022. He returned, tore his meniscus, didn’t make his second debut until February 2023, was dropped from the squad, got injured again and then got suspended for a doping violation that September.
A free transfer that turned into an absolute nightmare in about a year for everyone involved. Pogba is now a free agent once again and free to play football from March 2025, having made just 12 appearances in all competitions in his second spell in Turin.
Joe Cole
When Cole first left West Ham for Chelsea in 2003, he was widely considered one of English football’s best young talents.
An attacking midfielder with the creativity English players simply weren’t meant to possess, injuries unfortunately ravaged the best years of his career.
Ten years after leaving West Ham, he made a return to the club in 2013. Emotionally, it was brilliant. There were even flashes of Cole at his best, but ultimately he was damaged goods and his body couldn’t cope with top-level football.
He left again in June 2014 and signed for Aston Villa, before eventually retiring in 2018 after a spell in the North American Soccer League. A real shame.
Fabio Cannavaro
The Italian defender wasted no time in jumping from the sinking ship that was Juventus following the Calciopoli scandal that saw them relegated to Serie B in 2006, signing for Real Madrid after winning the World Cup.
Cannavaro enjoyed a strong three years in the Spanish capital, before returning to Turin on a free transfer in 2009. And while he started well, both his and Juve’s form quickly dipped.
Having already returned with his tail somewhat between his legs, Juve fans simply weren’t having it. They finished seventh – their worst Serie A finish in a decade – and he quickly left again after just one season. Nightmare.
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Mario Gotze
A young and promising German footballer, the minute Gotze showed an ounce of talent at Borussia Dortmund, his move to Bayern Munich became inevitable.
He was literally on top of the world in the summer of 2014 having scored the winning goal for Germany in the World Cup final, but his move to the Bundesliga giants didn’t work out and he made a return to Dortmund after just three years.
Gotze’s return in 2016 was well-received, but a number of injury and fitness issues caused by an illness completely scuppered any romance and he left again in 2020.
Dirk Kuyt
The mind immediately thinks of Kuyt’s successful return to Feyenoord where he fired his former club to the Eredivisie in 2016-17. However, after that, the Dutchman went back to where it all started with Quick Boys.
Kuyt had actually gone back as an assistant manager but, amid a shortage of strikers at the end of the season in 2018, he came out of retirement to try and fire them to promotion from the fourth tier.
Trying to be the hero didn’t work, however, and after three appearances without a goal, he quickly put a pin in it.
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Wayne Rooney
After an illustrious 13 years at Manchester United where he became a legend and the club’s all-time top scorer, Rooney made a return to boyhood club Everton in 2017.
It was a little surprising given how he’d celebrated goals against them in the past, but ultimately he was welcomed back.
He scored the winner on his second Premier League debut for the Toffees and later bagged a hat-trick against West Ham, one goal of which came from his own half.
However, he left just one year into a two-year deal and scuppered any romance in the process by signing for MLS side DC United in 2018, before retiring with Derby County. Random.