Footballers should never go back... Those who did, and flourished

Friday saw the confirmation of recent rumours that Thierry Henry is due to return to Arsenal after almost five years away, and just three weeks after the club unveiled a statue immortalising him around the stadium. Henry was Arsenal's top goalscorer...

Arsenal's tribute to Michael Jackson wasn't quite so bling

But which way will this go? Plenty of articles have been written about the players who fail on their returns, but what about the successes?

Mark Hughes

'Ailsa' as he is commonly known, started his career at Manchester United (scoring 37 goals in 89 appearances) before becoming part of a British exodus to Europe, lured by money and European football. After stints at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, and returned to Manchester to even greater acclaim and glory, with another 82 goals in 7 seasons.

Home and away

Peter Beardsley

One of the most skilful English forwards of the 80s and 90s, Beardsley led a nomadic life (Carlisle, Vancouver and Man Utd) before his first spell at Newcastle. Scoring 61 goals in 147 games led him to Liverpool as part of the Ian Rush replacement programme, for a then British record £1.9m. He returned to Tyneside in 1993, having also played for Everton, and forged deadly partnerships with Andy/Andrew Cole and Les Ferdinand. His England career was perhaps not so bright, the same could also be said for his career in the adult film industry.

See previous blog post about balls

Ian Rush

Liverpool's record goalscorer, he spent the main part of his career at Anfield, two spells sandwiching a year in Turin at Juventus, where he famously commented that Italy 'was like a foreign country'. His sale led to the arrivals at Anfield of Beardsley, John Barnes and John Aldridge, and in his season away, one of English football's finest teams. But he returned, and continued the scoring vein. One of the early celebrity footballers as a result of his name-check in the famous 1980s milk advert, his later career unfortunately avoided the irony of turning out for Accrington Stanley...

Real men wear pink

So for all the nay-sayers about Henry returning to Arsenal, there is precedent. Perhaps the pace has gone, and he may need to get used to sitting on the bench, but Arsenal fans may just rejoice in some attacking options on the bench that don't spell Arshavin, Chamakh or Park...