Never go back, they say, and for a while longer, it seems that Peter Crouch hasn't, but I wouldn't rule out the chance of the bouncing beanpole starting the new season in a Pompey shirt after Harry Redknapp had an rumoured £9million bid for the striker turned down yesterday.

Players returning to clubs to wind down their careers (think of Juninho's au revoir at Middlesbrough or Beardsley chinning one in at St James's Park) seems a fair and at times emotive decision, but the same can't really be said of footballers going back to teams who have previously shown them the door .. and who are willing to pay through the nose to get them back on the payroll.

Crouch is a good example, having been flogged by Pompey in March 2002 for an admittedly healthy £5million. That looks good business, until it seems they're willing to pay double that to get him back.

Arsene Wenger came out with a classic line when releasing midfielder Steve Sidwell to Reading in 2003, stating that he could well foresee him resigning the ginger playmaker for a big-money fee a few years later. Err, well don't flog him then!

Maybe the spectacled Frenchman wanted to see how the boot felt on the other foot after stuffing Paris Saint-Germain in what must rate as the most peculiar piece of transfer market folly since since Aston Villa decided John Fashanu was worth £1.3million.

What must have been going through the minds of the PSG hierarchy to firstly allow French youth international Nicolas Anelka to join Arsenal for a paltry £500,000 in 1997, only to buy him back (via Real Madrid) for £22million three years later?

And I bet that still failed to put a smile on Le Sulk's face ..