Mohamed Kudus & Jack Grealish face former clubs: Players to score most goals against former clubs

Harry Kane 2nd 

There’s few things more devastating for football fans than watching a former hero return to score against their club. Often those players have achieved iconic status before seeking a new challenge only to haunt their former employers in the future. In other instances, players have failed to make the grade only to flourish to become a world-class player at a rival - like Mohamed Salah and Kevin de Bruyne to Chelsea.

Few can forget Emmanuel Adebayor’s celebration for Manchester City when he ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the travelling Arsenal support. Cristano Ronaldo famously scored for Real Madrid to knock Manchester United out of the Champions League, while O Fenômeno - the original Ronaldo - scored in four El Clasico’s against Barcelona for Madrid. This weekend two players will face former sides in which they used to be adored. Mohammed Kudus will take on West Ham for the first time since leaving for London rivals Tottenham, whilst Jack Grealish will face boyhood club Aston Villa with new side Everton.

Which player has scored the most goals against a former club?

Using Transfermarkt data from top five league clubs since 2000, Robert Lewandowski has incredibly scored 29 goals against Dortmund in just 28 games. The 36-year-old famously departed Dortmund on a free transfer in 2014 for Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich and he inflicted misery on his former fans. Lewandowski scored 27 goals against Dortmund as a Bayern player and he comfortably ranks first for goals against a former club, using the aforementioned criteria, totalling 29 goals against BVB since leaving the club.

As the graphic above illustrates, Harry Kane ranks second with 19 goals in 19 games against former loan club Leicester City as a Tottenham player - ten goals off Lewandowski’s record. Ciro Immobile scored 15 goals against Genoa with 13 of them arriving as a Lazio player. Kylian Mbappé ranks eighth in the list with 11 goals against Monaco for PSG, while Samuel Eto’o scored 11 times in 20 games against Real Madrid for Barcelona and Mallorca.