FeedTheGoat
Full Member
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2021
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- Man City
Something I have wanted to discuss for a fair bit. A saying in life is to "never go back" and I feel this is particulary a thing in football. It really is hard to actually name any player or manager in modern football that ever come close to having the same impact after coming back to the same club for a second spell in his career. There could be some obvious ones I forget obviously, and plenty have probably been more than solid enough hirings/signings but has there ever been a re-signing that has truly lived up to the expectations fans have when a hero comes back?How often does a returning manager/player actually come close to being as good in his second spell at a club in modern football? Feels like "return" stories always ends up underwhelming. Could be a topic for a thread on it's own actually
In recent memory Ancelotti at Madrid and Griezman at Atletico is some of the few I can recall actually really working out to the same level as before. Aspas at Celta Vigo? Zlatan at AC Milan? Bellamy at Liverpool was maybe better in his second spell but I might be scraping the barrell a bit with him.
Other than those I am really struggling to think of high-profile returns that didn't end up very underwhelming. Ronaldo at United is obviously a very prominent one where it didn't end well. For my club, I remember the fondness and excitement when a still relatively young Shaun Wright-Phillips came back but he were never close to be as good as he was the first time. Lukaku at Chelsea and Pogba at United I'm not sure even counts because of their limited play time in their first spell, but they will probably go in the failure category (mixed opinions about Pogba maybe). Dalglish second spell as Liverpool manager were poor
Have I forgotten some obvious ones?
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