NEVER GO BACK?

Petit opted not to return to Arsenal but these players did have a second spell, with mixed results

MARTIN KEOWN

The youth-team product made 27 appearances before being flogged to Aston Villa, unable to secure the extra £50 per week he wanted on his Gunners contract. “It was a matter of principle,” he said. Brought back from Everton in 1993, he won three top-flight titles over the next 11 years.

SOL CAMPBELL

An ‘Invincible’ in his first spell, the centre-half came up from League Two for a second go with Arsenal in 2010, after just one game for Sven-goran Eriksson’s Notts County. He contributed 14 outings and even a goal in the Champions League – better than losing away at Morecambe, all told.

JENS LEHMANN

The German goalkeeper, also a member of the 2003-04 ‘Invincibles’, decided to retire after a shift at Stuttgart and, aged 41, was due to take his coaching badges with Arsenal when an injury crisis saw him called into action. He started in a 3-1 win at Blackpool: his 200th and final Arsenal game.

THIERRY HENRY

The Frenchman’s initial stint at Arsenal went OK, bringing 226 goals in 370 matches, so returning on loan from New York Red Bulls aged 34 could have proved risky. Instead it enhanced his legacy further, as he bagged a late winner in an FA Cup tie against Leeds in his first appearance back.

MATHIEU FLAMINI

The midfielder had four years with Arsenal before heading to Milan. A free agent in 2013, he returned to the Emirates to train, then ended up signing, staying for three more years and scoring a brace against Spurs. Still only 39, he’s now the CEO of a biochemicals company, because why not?