Some footballers can't resist one last rodeo at their hometown club

These footballers just loved being hometown heroes

Former Arsenal and Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has penned a deal to return to his boyhood club, Feyenoord, on an 18-month contract.

The 34-year-old left the Dutch team 14 years ago, and after 11 stellar seasons in England, has been with Turkish giants Fenerbahce since 2015.

Van Persie went big on announcing his return to the Rotterdam club with a giant, nine-image collage hogging up the space on his Instagram account, external - each image playing a video, external underlining the epic nature of Van Persie’s return to the Eredivisie.

So there’s a lot of hype around Van Persie’s return to Feyenoord, but nostalgia will only get a player so far when returning to an old flame and once the buzz wears off, the fans will expect to see goals and good performances.

Here are a few players who’ve also made a comeback to boyhood teams - could Van Persie learn a thing or two from these hometown heroes?

Five Premier League crowns, 253 goals, and a Champions League title will immortalise 'Wazza' as a legend at Manchester United, but Wayne Rooney’s heart will always be Evertonian.

Born in Croxteth, Liverpool, Rooney came through the ranks as a youth player at the Toffees and was later promoted to the first team in 2002 where he quickly caught the attention of the footballing world, including Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson. Rooney signed with United for a reported £27m in 2004.

After 13 glittering years in Manchester, Everton fans were divided when news broke that Rooney would be returning to Goodison Park in the summer of 2017.

Rooney scored a screamer in his first game back at Everton in pre-season and he’s continued to perform pretty well in a struggling team with 10 Premier League goals in 20 games so far this season.

Not bad business for a free transfer. That's 'free', if you don’t include his rumoured £13m wages.

Six years in the youth team and six years playing at senior level meant that Fernando Torres, born in the Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada, had become a stalwart at Atletico Madrid, captaining the club at age 19 and scoring 80 league goals.

It wasn’t long until Europe’s other big clubs came calling for Atletico’s favourite son, and it was fellow Spaniard, Rafa Benitez, who finally tempted him to join Liverpool for £20m in 2007.

Whilst Torres formed a deadly partnership with Steven Gerrard at Liverpool and was adored by fans, the lack of silverware meant he was eventually tempted to join rivals Chelsea for a cool £50m. However, apart from one famous goal against Barcelona, it soon emerged that his once-brilliant powers were fading.

A brief spell at AC Milan didn't improve things and Torres appeared to be falling off the radar, until Atletico offered a helping hand in 2015 to take him back on a loan, later signing him permanently.

“I am home now and have never enjoyed my football more,” Torres said when he rejoined Atletico. “The coach, the players, the fans – this is a special place to be.”

While he's clearly not the player he once was, Torres is happy to be home. So much so, that he signed a one-year contract extension in the summer of 2017 to help the club out for another year when they were hit with a transfer embargo.

In the mid-1990s, Fowler bagged 120 goals in 236 appearances for Liverpool. In fact, he was such goal machine, that the Anfield crowd called him “God”.

Fowler was breaking records in the Premier League and winning the hearts of fans all around until a difficult relationship with manager Gerard Houllier saw him join Leeds United for £11m, and he later moved on to Manchester City.

Five years after leaving Liverpool, Fowler rejoined his boyhood club under manager Rafa Benitez, saying he felt like “a kid waking up on Christmas morning, every day.”

Banners from the Liverpool fans may have read “God. Welcome back to heaven” but Fowler didn't quite rediscover his previous almighty form, scoring eight goals in 30 games over a season and a half.

The Argentine striker started out his career by coming through the ranks at Buenos Aires-based Boca Juniors, eventually scoring 26 goals in 75 appearances for the first team.

Tevez played in Brazil for Corinthians before a series of controversial moves to clubs in Europe (er, Manchester United to Manchester City, anyone?) saw Tevez labelled (by some) as a money-hungry player, but he opted for a return to his hometown team Boca in 2015.

Tevez helped lead Boca Juniors to Argentina’s Primera Division title in his first season back and just as it all seemed like there was no place like home, he opted for a big money move to China.

This was no ordinary transfer through. Tevez became one of the highest-paid players in the world at Shanghai Shenhua, reportedly earning in excess of £600,000 per week - not bad for what he less-than-endearingly described as a “holiday.”

So after an unsuccessful yet lucrative spell in China, Tevez decided to go to the one club where he felt at home – back to Buenos Aires and Boca Juniors for his third spell at the club. Carlos just can't stay away.

It was reported that Manchester United once offered to pay £10m for Joe Cole when the Londoner was just 16 years old, but the hot prospect opted to develop his career at West Ham where he quickly progressed through the ranks.

Making his Premier League debut at age 17 and captaining the club at age 21, Joe Cole was loved by the Hammers fans. However, the allure of Roman Abramovich’s new Chelsea era took him across London in 2003.

Cole’s highlights mainly came from his time at Chelsea rather than his later stints at Liverpool and French club Lille, but when Cole’s contract was up at Anfield, West Ham offered to take their former prospect back on a free transfer. He returned to his boyhood club and went on to score five goals in 37 games.

Originally published 23 January 2017.