The transfer window, mainly in Europe, will be very long and surely still holds many surprises after the first signings in the important clubs. But a clear trend was the return of some players or coaches to places where they had already succeeded.
Blows of nostalgia that came with the return, for example, of Carlo Ancelotti to Real Madrid. After a first opportunity in which he won the long-awaited tenth Champions for the merengue team, breaking a 12-year drought.
Another notable return was that of Jordi Cruyff to Barcelona, a reconciliation that took too long to materialize after several disagreements between his father and the managers, but which finally stepped aside to be able to include the son of the legend in Laporta’s new project , who even identified it as a “wild card in an emergency.”
Another outstanding return, although in different circumstances, was that of Karim Benzema to the French national team after an internal conflict that led to scandal and an absence of more than five years due to an alleged blackmail of his teammate Mathieu Valbuena. The conflict prevented Benzema from playing the 2018 World Cup in which France was crowned with the stellar participation of Kylian Mbappe. But Didier Deschamps decided to close the case and summoned Benzema for the Eurocup.
In Mexico there have also been notable returns. Miguel Layún came to tears when his return to Club America was confirmed. After being the architect of the Clausura 2013 title in the most dramatic Final in recent times, by scoring the decisive penalty against Cruz Azul, and after winning his second title in 2014, Layún began a European adventure, and in 2019 he returned to Mexico with Rayados, with whom he raised the Liga MX title. Finally, fate takes him back to America, where he will try to revive his intense relationship and also that famous phrase “Everything is Layún’s fault.”
Héctor Moreno also returned to Mexico, but to the disappointment of the fans of the Pumas, the club in which he was formed and that gave him the projection to go to Europe, he will do so with Monterrey, a team with greater economic capacity.
Thus, under that trend, we review some returns that we would like to see, to feel that sweet feeling of nostalgia that reunions cause.
Guardiola to Barcelona
It seems highly unlikely, but every season the options are turned around for Pep to return home almost a decade after his departure. Their separation was very painful, after taking the ideal project of the club to the top, living its best time and that of greatest conquests. His cycle was short, but one of the most successful in history, so it is recurrent that each cycle longs for his return. But the reality is that the options to see a second cycle of Guardiola in Barcelona are few, but the dream will continue to live among his fans.
Although his success at Real Madrid always reveals the desire of his fans for a return, which would be too soon after some difficult years at Juventus. And although the truly romantic reunion of Cristiano Ronaldo would be at Sporting de Lisboa, a club where he made his debut in the First Division and for which even his mother has fought for him to return. But it was at Manchester United that Cristiano Ronaldo forged the beginning of his legend, and a return would be spectacular, as the club has suffered to regain prominence after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. And he would not only bring his goals, but his image and category to a team that needs to regain its strength as a top club in the Premier League.
Chicharito, Almeyda and Vela to Chivas
Chivas is a club with a lot of identity. Being the only exclusive team for Mexican players gives it a special character. That is why their players who go to other clubs are always expected to return, and the most important cases could be Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, who went out 11 years ago to triumph with Manchester United, and after a long tour of Europe, is currently in MLS, where he is looking for a rematch after a nightmare first year.
There, in MLS, is the last coach who managed to win titles and make Chivas a team of respect, Matías Almeyda. And a third, Carlos Vela, who did not make his debut in the First Division in Mexico, but emerged from the basic forces of Chivas and would form an unbeatable tandem if that dream of every Flock fan were fulfilled.
Tuca to the Pumas
30 years ago, Ricardo Ferretti and the Pumas were approaching the conquest of one of their most remembered titles. It was in 1991 when the Pumas finally managed to get rid of one of the strongest hegemonies they ever lived, by defeating America in the Final, which had snatched the title from them twice during the 1980s. In Pumas, that match on 22 is not forgotten June 1991 at CU, in which they came at a disadvantage 2-3 after Ida’s game. The series could not be more closed, but finally it was defined with the goal that posterity would know as the ‘Tucazo’. An unstoppable free kick for Adrián Chávez in which Ferretti took advantage of the complicity of Juan Carlos Vera to cover the visibility of the Americanist goalkeeper, although, as Raúl Orvañanos said in that transmission: “This one, with or without Vera, never grabs her” . The away goal defined the champion, and Tuca became Pumas’s coach the following year. He lived a second stage, between 2006 and 2010, before starting a third cycle in Tigres, which has just ended.
The university fans have a great memory of Ricardo Ferretti, who won the club’s penultimate title in 2009. Now he has just committed to FC Juárez, but a third cycle in Pumas as a coach would not be so far-fetched.
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