Six want-away players and what became of them…

The international break is over and finally the domestic leagues pick up where they left off.

Those who may not be as happy to see the Premier League return, however, are those players who spent the summer quite publicly talking about wanting to leave their clubs and who now have to come back and face the music.

While Chelsea's Diego Costa remains in Brazil and has refused to return to England, Southampton's Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho both made public their desire to move on, external.

Will their return to their clubs be tense? Will there be some mending to be done? Will Jeremy Kyle’s style of relationship therapy need to be employed?

Time will tell. In the meantime, let’s remember this isn't the first time a player hasn’t got their dream move. So how did other players resolve their slightly awkward situations?

1. Luis Suarez, 2013

Big spender Arsene Wenger flashed the cash in 2013 when he reportedly offered Liverpool £40m + £1 in July 2013, which he believed would be enough to unlock mercurial talisman Luis Suarez’s release clause and force Liverpool’s hand on a sale.

Quelle surprise, Liverpool weren’t interested. Unfortunately it seemed Suarez was., external

Instead, Suarez had to give Liverpool another year. But what a year.

Whatever you think of this man, one thing is true. He is really, really good at playing football. In the 2013-14 season he scored 31 goals and was instrumental in Liverpool's rise up the table.

He was also crowned PFA & Football Writers’ Player of the Year.

The next summer he got his £75 move to Barcelona, external, though there was, of course, still enough time for him to almost spoil the deal with 'that' bite on Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2008

In 2008, the much maligned Cristiano Ronaldo agreed, external with Sepp Blatter’s description of his treatment by Manchester United as like that of a “modern day slave”.

For most of us, the image of modern day slavery is not being forced to play football for a title-winning side and taking home £120,000 a week for the pleasure. Experience is subjective though.

Either way, Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t budge over Ronaldo’s wish to move to Real Madrid. He had to stay for another season, during which he chose not to sulk but instead turned out 18 goals and six assists, external– bringing home a third consecutive Premier League title and a Champions League final for his captors.

When the fax machine buzzed again the next summer, Fergie cashed in, to the tune of £80m.

3. Carlos Tevez, 2010

Tevez is a strange sort of player. His main attribute on the pitch seems to be ‘commitment’, which makes it a bit odd that at Manchester City he decided to do things like refusing to warm up during a 2-0 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.

In December 2010 he handed in a transfer request despite no firm offer being on the table. Then, during the 2011/12 season, he bought a one-way ticket to Argentina for an indefinite stay, external.

He accused his then-manager Roberto Mancini of treating him like a canine, which is ironic, because dogs are so famously loyal.

For his part, Mancini was criticised by some for accepting his errant player back into the fold after a long exile, but that decision seemed to pay dividends when Tevez returned and helped City pip United to the title, annoying his former employers in the process.

On balance, it seemed to work out and, to be fair, if you will buy your players from your biggest local rivals, questions over the player's ‘loyalty to a football club’ may raise their head every now and then.

4. Leonardo Ulloa, 2017

In January this year, Leonardo Ulloa tweeted to tell Leicester fans why he wanted to make a transfer to David Moyes’ Sunderland...

David Moyes. Sunderland. The same Sunderland who were relegated that season. One could say he dodged a bullet…

Fast forward to August 2017 and just look at the elation on his face there, signing that new contract. Everything works out in the end eh?!

5. Peter Odemwingie, 2013

Possibly the most famous ever deal-that-didn’t happen and one that probably still gives the subject nightmares. In 2013 Odemwingie drove 120 miles from Birmingham to London, in order to speed through a transfer to QPR.

He was seen signing autographs outside Loftus Road and telling reporters that he was “ready for a new chapter”. The deal didn’t go through.

West Brom took quite a firm approach. The striker didn’t start another game for the Baggies…

6. Pierre van Hooijdonk, 1998

Hooijdonk was and remains a controversial figure in the game, who once commented, external that his £7,000 a week pay packet at Celtic "might be enough for the homeless, but not for an international striker".

In 1998, after helping Nottingham Forest back into the Premier League, he went on strike for 11 games – upset that manager Dave Bassett was, in his opinion, putting a prohibitive price on his head.

The player has since explained, external, “The first time I got upset was when there was a story in the newspaper that Newcastle wanted to pay £7m and Bassett said: ‘He can only go for £10m’. But £10m in 1997 was ridiculous, that’s like trying to sell a cappuccino for £25 – it’s for sale, but nobody will touch it.”

This one ended badly. Hooijdonk returned, Bassett was sacked and Forest were relegated nonetheless.

Van Hooijdonk did then get his move to Benfica, where he worked with a young starling called Jose Mourinho.

So which approach will this year’s want-aways take? Will it be happy families? Will it be like when Chandler stole Joey’s girlfriend? Will everyone forget about it all in a week’s time when a bigger story comes along?

We can’t wait to find out…