NEVER go back’ is a mantra oft-repeated in footballing circles by those who should know better. Craig Bellamy, clearly, takes no notice of such tired cliches.

The Welshman made a surprise return to Liverpool this week, sealing a free move from Manchester City hours before Wednesday’s transfer deadline

For Bellamy, the move represents a second chance to impress at the club he followed as a youngster.

The 32-year-old spent a single season at Anfield, scoring 9 times in 42 appearances during the 2006/07 campaign.

It was, however, a year which saw a well-publicised spat with team-mate John Arne Riise during a training camp in Portugal, and Bellamy suffered the heartbreak of watching the Reds’ Champions League final defeat to AC Milan as an unused substitute.

He departed for West Ham United for £7.5m that summer, and moved to City eighteen months later for almost double that. But after a bright start at Eastlands – he was arguably the club’s outstanding player during the 2009/10 season – he found himself out of favour under Roberto Mancini and spent last season playing Championship football with Cardiff City.

Now, though, he is back at Anfield on a two-year deal. And the thought of being part of Kenny Dalglish’s new-look Reds is one which excites him.

“I’ve grown up with Kenny Dalglish,” he says. “To be signed by him is a massive honour.

“This is an exciting time. When Kenny took over, watching as a fan last season I got the buzz as well.

“For me, the players they’ve signed this summer, there has been a lot of British which takes me back to when I started watching Liverpool. It looks so familiar to me and to be part of it is such a huge honour.

“Kenny is probably the best player ever to pull on the red shirt so that speaks for itself. He was the first player-manager to do the double.

“I know we’ve had bits of success since then but the club hasn’t been the same since he left, so to come back in and be a part of this with the players who are here - it’s a good time.

“The Liverpool team when I first signed is a lot different to the Liverpool side of the last couple of years so we need to get back into the Champions League and look to push the club on from there again.”

Bellamy, of course, is not the first striker to return for a second spell at Liverpool.

Ian Rush left for Juventus in 1987 but was back within a year and was still scoring goals up until his departure in 1996.

Robbie Fowler’s Anfield return, meanwhile, bears plenty of similarities. Like Bellamy, Fowler was the wrong side of 30 when he moved from Manchester City on a free in 2006.

And though he never reached the heights he had scaled so thrillingly in the mid-1990s, Fowler was to prove a smart acquisition for Rafa Benitez, scoring 12 times in 39 appearances.

Bellamy says he never stopped believing he would get another chance and says he intends to show Reds fans his best form second time around.

“I get this opportunity again for Liverpool fans to hopefully see a real good side of me on a playing level,” he says.

“We’re not in Europe so it gives us a great opportunity to concentrate on the league.

“Cup competitions speak for themselves and obviously we want to do well in cups, but this gives us the opportunity now to go week by week and really concentrate on our league position and get back into the Champions League.

“I’m very happy. It’s been a long couple of months, I had to be patient and believe something like this could happen. It has so I am over the moon.”

Liverpool fans, too, are pretty pleased with the club’s seventh signing of a productive summer. Director of football Damien Comolli described Bellamy’s return as “a no-brainer”, a view echoed by many.

Bellamy’s well-worn knees may not have many years left in them – he has admitted as much himself – but his pace, hunger and football brain remains. He should provide stiff competition and ample support for Andy Carroll, Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez.

“I’m coming to a Liverpool where the people here know what I need to do to play in this team,” he says.

Liverpool fans will hope this man on a mission is true to his word.