McFadden made big-money moves to Everton and Birmingham and his 15 goals for Scotland made him the man the Tartan Army relied on.
But now McFadden has to reward the faith of a Motherwell support for whom he has been an icon since his dramatic emergence proved an unexpected bright light amid the dark days of the club's descent into administration.
And the 29-year-old has to meet even higher expectations than those of a worshipping support - he is looking to vindicate his own belief that he can return to the level that earned him 48 caps.
The last of those internationals came against Liechtenstein in September 2010, just before he suffered a cruciate ligament injury that kept him out for year.
McFadden has only made 12 first-team appearances since - for Everton, Sunderland and now Motherwell - and most of those have come off the bench.
Now he aims to hit the ground running after making his Motherwell return in the 73rd minute of their SPL clash with Dundee United on Tuesday.
"This is probably the move where I've had the most expectation on me so in that sense I've got everything to prove," McFadden said.
"I've had a bad injury and had a tough time since then and maybe people are starting to doubt that I can play to the level I was at before, so I think I've got more to prove in this move than any other move that I've made.
"I don't want to prove anybody wrong. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I've been in the game long enough to know that those opinions change daily.
"I've got more to prove to myself than anybody else. I've not played regularly for maybe two and a half years."
McFadden has signed until the end of the season and believes he can return to the top level in England.
Although McFadden could not prevent Motherwell suffering a 1-0 defeat on Tuesday, there were glimpses of the swagger and confidence that made him so popular at Fir Park - his second touch was a nutmeg inside his own half.
"I have never doubted my ability to play, I have always just felt I needed a run of games and I'll get that and hopefully be able to show that I can still do it," he said.
Despite the anticipated short-term nature of the move, McFadden has fulfilled a long-held ambition to return to the club where he made his debut as a 17-year-old.
The forward scored 32 goals for Motherwell as a teenager before his £1.25million move to Everton in 2003 and always maintained he would be back one day.
That day came on Monday when he knocked on Motherwell manager Stuart McCall's door and asked him for a contract amid his second training stint with the club this season.
McFadden, who is set to start on the bench against Ross County in Dingwall on Saturday, said: "I hadn't spoken to anybody but I had made my mind up that I wanted to come back and get involved as soon as possible.
"I went a month out of contract and nothing was happening.
"There were a couple of maybes but there wasn't anything concrete. I didn't want to wait and try to follow up maybes, I just wanted to get back playing.
"The longer I left it the more I was itching to get back playing. I stay 10 minutes from here, I've been here before, I've got a soft spot for the club and I've got the chance to play football every week."
McFadden's Scotland career looked in doubt even before his injury after he was substituted at half-time against Liechtenstein by Craig Levein, who did not seem to appreciate the talents of McFadden as much as his predecessors.
Now McFadden aims to resurrect his international career under Gordon Strachan.
"It's obviously something I've thought about," McFadden told reporters at Fir Park.
"I need to get back playing and playing well and hopefully that will be good enough to get back involved with Scotland."
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