10 Footballers Who Returned To Their Former Clubs For Inflated Prices

3. Peter Crouch - Tottenham AND Portsmouth

Peter Crouch has the unwanted record of costing TWO of his former employers a stack of cash in that he twice returned to former clubs throughout his career for inflated prices. Crouch started his career at Tottenham as a youth team player in 1995 and graduated into the first team set-up in 1998, though he didn't make a single appearance and was twice loaned to Dulwich Hamlet and IFK Hässleholm in 2000. Spurs eventually sold Crouch to QPR for £60,000 later that year before he moved on to Portsmouth in 2001 for £1.5 million. Portsmouth then sold him to Aston Villa for £5 million in 2002 and Crouch went on to play for Norwich, Southampton and Liverpool before re-joining Pompey in 2008 when they re-signed him for £11 million. Portsmouth went £6 million out of pocket to bring the lanky England striker back to the south coast but they weren't the only side to get their fingers burnt. In 2009, Tottenham ALSO re-signed Crouch, buying him from Pompey for £10 million - over £9 million more than what they had sold him to QPR for nine years earlier. In total, Crouch set Tottenham and Portsmouth back by a combined £15 million.