Cristiano Ronaldo very nearly broke the internet last month as it was confirmed he would be returning to Manchester United.

The Portuguese superstar had, for a long time, looked as though he would be joining cross-town rivals Manchester City, only for the Red Devils to swoop in right at the last to land his services.

Reports suggest that the red half of Manchester mobilised their significant resources and connections in the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Rio Ferdinand to convince Ronaldo to return to Old Trafford.

He follows in the footsteps of Romelu Lukaku, who also returned to an old haunt as he signed for Chelsea in a bumper deal.

So that got us thinking, what have been the best - and worst - returns to former clubs?

Well, thanks to the folks over at TierMaker, we were able to come up with a handy ranking to answer that exact question.

Heroic welcome 

These lads were welcomed with open arms back at their former clubs and with good reasons.

Robbie Fowler makes it purely because of the romance factor, while Lukaku and Ronaldo join in based off the fact that they represent superb business.

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Paul Pogba has split opinion, but he has served his club well and put in some incredible shifts.

Zlatan is Zlatan, and his return to Milan was only ever going to end well. Lastly, Juninho's return to Middlesborough makes the grade just because we love a bit of nostalgia.

Better than expected 

Fernando Torres' career had been ebbing away for a while before his emotional return to Atletico but it proved to be a fruitful time.

No one really knew what to expect when Thierry Henry returned to north London but he, as well as Mats Hummels, both proved that good things can come from going home.

Got the job done

Nemanja Matic actually proved to be a superb signing as he helped inspire Chelsea to the Premier League title. However, his subsequent move to Manchester United taints it all a little bit.

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Enter Giveaway

Peter Crouch was a more than handy striker in his day, so his return to Tottenham proved to be a superb bit of work for all involved.

Neither here nor there

These moves were all a bit underwhelming in the end.

We all wanted Kaka's return to Milan to go well but it just never caught fire.

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Didier Drogba's Chelsea homecoming was bizarre to say the least while Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa were good, but not great.

Should've stayed away 

In truth, a return to the old days just didn't work for these lads. Gareth Bale's return wasn't a complete disaster, but it wasn't exactly fruitful either.

Joe Cole returning to West Ham will never make much sense while David Luiz to Chelsea, which had its moments, was only ever going to end one way.