Five Premier League players who returned to their first club | OneFootball

They say never go back, but plenty of Premier League players have returned to their first club later in their careers over the years – with mixed results.

Ryan Sessegnon is the latest footballer to do so, hoping to recreate the magic of his teenage years after enduring a tough time at Tottenham Hotspur.

The left-sided attacker broke through as a 16-year-old full-back in the Championship, playing a pivotal role in the Cottagers’ return to the top flight via the play-offs in 2018.

‘Sess’ possessed bags of potential, which convinced Spurs to spend £25 million on signing him the following year, but his spell on the northside of London was dogged by injuries and he was eventually released at the end of his contract this past summer.

The clubless 24-year-old trained with Crystal Palace with a view to joining the Eagles, but the pull of his boyhood club was evidently too strong, signing a contract until 2026 with the option for an additional year.

Whether Sessegnon can return to form in familiar surrounds remains to be seen, but here are a few examples he can learn from ahead of next season.

Five Premier League players who returned to their first club

Wayne Rooney – Everton

The boy wonder burst onto the scene at just 16 years of age when he ended Arsenal’s 30-match unbeaten run with a stunning winner at Goodison Park in 2002. From that point he seemed destined for greatness, which he achieved after moving to Manchester United in 2004.

Five Premier League titles, two European trophies, multiple individual honours and 13 years later he finally returned to Merseyside. Much older and not as explosive, Rooney scored 11 goals in 40 appearances in his one year back at Everton – the most memorable of which was this effort from inside his own half.

Baller.

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Peter Crouch – Tottenham

Technically, Spurs was Peter Crouch’s third club. He started out in the Brentford academy before joining local rivals QPR. But Spurs came calling when he was just 14 and it was there he signed his first professional contract.

Despite this, he never made a single senior appearance for the north London outfit, instead having to make do with loan spells at Dulwich Hamlet and in Sweden. In 2000 he returned to Loftus Road in a permanent transfer.

Crouch went on to play for Portsmouth, Aston Villa, Norwich, Southampton, Liverpool and Portsmouth again before eventually returning to White Lane in 2009.

The move wasn’t a massive success, as he scored just 12 Premier League over two seasons before being shipped off to Stoke City, but neither was it a failure.

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Robbie Fowler – Liverpool

The hearts of Liverpool fans were broken when ‘God’ suddenly left Anfield to join Leeds United in 2001. Five years later he left Manchester City to return home.

“Going back to Liverpool, I always think to myself, when you’re a young lad and you’ve got a girlfriend, and then all of a sudden you lose her, you always want to go back to her.”

Fowler’s second stint lasted two years, during which time he netted 12 goals to put himself ahead of Kenny Dalglish in the club’s list of all-time scorers.

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Graeme La Saux – Chelsea

A regular for Chelsea in the early nineties, Graeme La Saux first spell at the club ended in acrimony. Upset at being continually subbed off in games, he reacted angrily when taken off in a match against Southampton, throwing his jersey to the ground as he walked past manager Ian Porterfield.

The left-back was summarily sold to up-and-coming side Blackburn Rovers, where he won the Premier League (and had an infamous on-pitch scrap with teammate David Batty during a Champions League game).

Four years after leaving, Le Saux returned to Stamford Bridge as an England international and won four trophies before joining Southampton in 2003.

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Joe Cole – West Ham United

Joe Cole enjoyed a great career, winning three Premier League titles and a host of other trophies with Chelsea and earning 56 caps with England.

The skillful winger went back to where it all began in 2013, rejoining West Ham United after two fruitless years at Liverpool. Unfortunately by then his game had been seriously hampered by a serious knee injury and the spark was well and truly gone for that 18-month spell.

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