The phrase ‘never go back’ exists in football for a reason. And it is a mantra that one former West Ham United stalwart wishes he had paid more attention to as he wound down his Premier League career.

Joe Cole would never recapture the precocious magic of his baby-faced prime when he returned a much older, more injury-prone man. Lee Bowyer was bombed out by Gianfranco Zola. Frank McAvennie mustered 33 goals in his first spell but 16 in his second.

A quarter of a century earlier, Don Hutchison made his own return to Upton Park after five years away. A decision he, unlike the in-form Mukasa, would live to regret.

Don Hutchison says he made a mistake rejecting Rangers for West Ham United

Speaking to the Daily Record, Hutchison admits he had a choice between a fresh start at Rangers and another spell at West Ham back in 2001. The former Scotland international opted for the latter, and later wished he hadn’t.

“I was unbelievably close to joining Rangers,” Ferguson says. “[Dick] Advocaat was the manager around 2001 and I was leaving Sunderland. It was Dick and Rangers or Glenn Roeder and West Ham. Financially, it was exactly the same deal. And Rangers were in the Champions League under Advocaat at the time.

“There was a big pull because my dad was a massive Rangers fan and I’ve always been a supporter as well. I wanted to play for the club. But at the very last second, it was a toss of a coin. Rangers or West Ham. And it’s still a regret of mine that I didn’t go to Rangers. I went to West Ham for a second spell.

“I only had two years [at Upton Park] the first time around so maybe in my mind it was a case of having unfinished business. But now that I’m retired, I know that I should have signed for Rangers.”

Hammers hope to sign Divine Mukasa permanently from Manchester City

Hutchison re-joined the Hammers for a club-record fee of £5 million. The one-time Everton and Liverpool midfielder would rupture his ACL midway through his first season back, however, and never managed to really nail down a consistent place in the XI again with Michael Carrick, Mark Noble and Nigel Reo-Coker stepping up.

A £5 million fee broke records in 2021. A sentence, and a fee, which feels pretty quaint by today’s standards.

One suspects that, although West Ham could land Mukasa permanently for a lower up-front fee due to the existence of a 25 per cent sell-on clause, one suspects Manchester City will still demand well in excess of £20 million.

Especially after comparisons were drawn with Jude Bellingham; Mukasa arguably the first teenager to control Championship games to such an extent since Bellingham’s Birmingham breakthrough.

“[Mukasa] should be getting a bit more attention here as English wonderkid,” EFL expert Ali Maxwell said on Not the Top 20 podcast after last week’s winning at Swansea City. “He is a pure modern footballer for the modern age.

“What I mean is wherever the ball is on the pitch, whatever phase it is in, whatever you need doing in and out of possession, I think Mukasa can already do pretty much all of it to a good level. And given his age and his size, his athleticism, his technical profile, I think he has the potential to do it all at an unbelievably high level if his trajectory tracks the right way.

“One of the big questions looking forward is; will he fill out Jude Bellingham-style? And I’m a little bit loath to drop the name Bellingham in, but there are some aspects of Mukasa’s game right now playing in the Championship that are quite reminiscent of a young Jude Bellingham.

“If he does fill out like Bellingham, if he becomes a really top-tier physical player, if he’s a top-level athlete alongside all the rest that I’ve talked about, we’re going to be looking at an unbelievably exciting talent.”