Without trying to sound too much like an agony aunt, there are those that would say that you should never go back to a former lover club.

Just ask Romelu Lukaku who less than 6 months after Chelsea spent over £90million to bring him back to West London is now complaining to the press about the way the club is playing football and how he is being treated.

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What's odd about Lukaku's situation is that he rejoined a club that never really showed him a lot of love the first time around.

Signed from Anderlecht as a teenager, he spent his first season in England primarily in the reserves before being loaned out to West Brom and Everton in successive seasons and ultimately was sold to the later.

In total then his first stint as a player owned by Chelsea saw him make just 10 Premier League appearances for the Blues, 9 of which were off the bench.

Now I know plenty of water has passed under the Stamford bridge for both player and club since that first spell in London but at the time, I felt that it was a strange signing for both parties especially at such a high price for a striker who never looked like he had what it takes at a really top Premier League club.

That got me thinking, which players have moved back to former clubs and how has that return worked out for them. Was it good, was it bad or did it get ugly?

On the evidence of the last few days, Lukaku's move back to Chelsea is distinctly looking like it will end in the later category! Here are a few others for your consideration

The Good

Juninhio - return to Middlesborough x 2

For some players there just seems to be a certain club that gets the best out of them. However, I would imagine that if at the start of his career, you had asked a young Brazilian by the name of Juninhio whether he thought that one special club would be located in a cold industrial city in the far North East of England then he would probably have laughed you out of his native Sao Paulo.

And yet, for the residents of Middlesborough the Brazilian World Cup winner is a living legend and arguably the greatest player in the history of the club. His heroics in the 1996-97 season where he was named runner up in the Football Writers Footballer of the Year award weren't enough to keep Boro up but as with any great messiah, a second coming was obligatory.

His 2nd spell in the North East was on loan from Atletico Madrid and this time the Brazilian maestro was able to help his team retain their place in the Premier League. However, it was his third spell at the club (this time a permanent transfer) that saw him forever etch his name in the history books of Middlesborough Football Club as he top scored for the side in a season that saw them win their first major trophy (The League Cup) and qualify for Europe.

In more recent years, there has been talk of "the little fella" as he's known on Teeside having a statue erected in his honour with the local mayor quipping that it wouldn't cost too much to produce given Juninhio's small frame!

Sir Stanley Matthews

Generally regarded as one of the greatest footballers to come out of England, Matthews' career started at Stoke in 1932 but was ultimately disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. He later requested a move to Blackpool to be closer to his family home that had been relocated nearer to the RAF base he was stationed at during the conflict but a return to Stoke always seemed likely.

He eventually returned to his first club at the ripe old age of 46 but this was not to prove a barrier either to his success on the pitch or the love that the Stoke fans showed him from the stands.

At the time of his return, Stoke had been languishing in the 2nd tier of English football for 10 seasons but the arrival of Matthews had an immediate impact!

His second debut for the Potters saw him assist one of the goals in a 3-0 victory against Huddersfield that was witnessed by 35k spectators, 3 times the number that Stoke had usually been attracting before the return of their prodigal son and the momentum that created carried the club through the season.

Matthews would go on to score in the final game of the 1961/62 season as Stoke were promoted back to the old first division as champions and in the process he won the football writers footballer of the year award for the 2nd time in his career having been the inaugural winner of the title some 15 years earlier.

The Bad

Paul Pogba - return to Manchester United

Is this a controversial pick? Pogba has certainly divided opinion since his return to English football with Manchester United.

There is no doubting that he has the ability to do things on a football pitch that few can even dream of but along with the fanfare, the haircuts and of course the huge transfer fee has come inconsistency and ever since returning to the club he left as a 19-year-old he has been linked with another move away. With his contract due to expire this summer it seems likely that he will finally leave the club once again having failed to really make a mark.

Injuries and break downs in relationships with the various managers he's played under at United have meant that Pogba has only managed to play 30 or more Premier League games in 2 of the 6 seasons he's spent in his second spell at the club.

The debate will continue as to what his best position is and he's shown during international tournaments that he can have a major influence on games from a deep-lying role. However, in the Premier League his apparent lack of drive and defensive awareness in that position has often left him exposed and United have preferred other options in more attacking roles meaning that more often than not, Pogba has been left looking like a square peg in a round hole.

Ultimately though should we be that surprised that Pogba's return to United looks set to end this way? After all, his first manager at the Red Devils, Alex Ferguson, had some choice words for the youngster when he opted to leave the club the first time around.

"It is disappointing. I don't think he (Pogba) showed us any respect at all, to be honest. I'm quite happy that if they (footballers) carry on that way, they're probably better doing it away from us."

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...

Nicolas Anelka - return to PSG

Anelka was originally on PSG's books as a youngster before heading off to Arsenal where he did the double during his second year in England and ended his third season with 17 Premier League goals.

Real Madrid were keen to add him to their already impressive array of stars and Anelka made the transfer for in excess of £22 million. However, he failed to live up to expectations in Madrid, taking 5 months to score his first goal for the club and was shipped back to PSG less than a year later.

His transfer caused much excitement in the French capital and Anelka was even handed the club captaincy on his return but results went from bad to worse as PSG slumped to 8th in the league with Anelka only contributing a fairly meager 8 goals on his return to League 1.

Criticism of his work rate, poor attitude and a breakdown in the relationship with his agent (Anelka's brother) and the club soon followed and Anelka was shipped out to Liverpool after less than 18 months of his 6 year contract with PSG.

In 2020, a Netflix documentary relived the many ups and downs of Anelka's career in a series entitled "Misunderstood".

Unfortunately for Anelka though history doesn't lie and his journeyman like career after leaving Arsenal saw him represent 11 teams from leagues across Europe and later on in India and China with his spells at those clubs usually ending acrimoniously. Unsurprisingly PSG were the only club stupid enough to give him a second chance!

The Ugly

Diego Maradona - return to Boca Juniors

Maradona initially joined Boca in 1981 in what at the time was a massive transfer in Argentine football, costing the club $6million and half a dozen players in part-exchange. However, despite Maradona becoming an instant hero for the club with his 28 goals in his first season leading them to the Primeria Divison title, Boca couldn't afford to keep him and he made the move to Barcelona.

Throughout his time in European football, Maradona continually hinted at a return to Boca but it was to rivals Newells Old Boys that he ultimately made his comeback in Argentine football following a 15-month ban handed out as a result of a failed drugs test at Napoli.

A further failed drugs test at the 1994 World Cup lead to yet another ban and Newell's released him from his contract.

Maradona initially re-joined Boca as an unpaid coach but upon the expiry of his playing ban signed a contract with the club.

He managed a couple of dozen appearances in his return season but thereafter he spent more time in rehab than he did on the pitch with just a further 6 games in 2 years with the troubled genius ultimately ending his career with Boca in 1998 to pursue further treatment for a drug addiction which would go on to cost him his life.

Vagner Love - return to CSKA Moscow

If you sign a player with a name that sounds like a porn star then is it a major surprise when they start to act like one?

Vagner Love had already hit the headlines on account of his nightlife when in 2009 a tape of him having sex with porn star Pamela Butt was leaked. That didn't stop several major Premier League clubs trying to steal the Brazilian away from the Russian Premier League but with his form having been impacted by the story he ultimately made the move back to Brazil.

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A few years later however, the Brazilian was back in Moscow and signing a new 3 year contract with CSKA. His second spell with the club didn't go as well though with Vagner Love managing just 14 league appearances before disappearing to China.

During a 2012 interview with Playboy, the forward openly bragged about his sexual conquests including the 16 person orgies that he used to enjoy while in Moscow, although Vagner Love did also go onto conclude that the wintery conditions in Russia cramped his style when it came to some alfresco action with the ladies ...

"You can still do it. At home, in restaurants or in shopping malls there is always heating, so no problem. The issue is out in the street. I did not mess around doing that in the street because I'm not tough enough to do it when it is -27, -30°C."

A true professional...

Which players do you think have made positive or negative impacts on their return to clubs?