The nature of the beast that is the upcoming January transfer window means it is now open season for all sorts of rumours. Spanish magazine Don Balon had a big one this week about Thiago Alcantara returning to Barcelona.
Thiago, 25, left Barca for Bayern Munich in 2013 but his progress was hampered by injuries before the playmaker signed a new four-year contract with the German club in August last year.
The Spanish international's younger brother Rafinha still plays at Barcelona and Don Balon says the Catalans will investigate whether there is any chance that Thiago wants to be reunited with him next summer. It claims the La Liga champions would be willing to offer around €40 million for Thiago but says that the real asking price could be at least €50m.
As transfer stories go this is a strange one and the Don Balon headline -- ¡Bombazo! -- even suggests that it sounds fanciful.
Why it makes sense
For Barcelona, though, it could make perfect sense. Andres Iniesta will turn 33 in May and a more experienced, more polished Thiago could be the perfect player to complement him in his later years.
Rafinha, 23, has broken through to the first-team squad since Thiago left the Camp Nou and in the past, the siblings must surely have dreamed about thriving together in the senior team.
There could be a feeling of unfinished business, too, since Thiago played just once in Barca's 2010-2011 Champions League campaign and watched from the bench as they beat Manchester United in the final.
Then, to varying degrees, there have been precedents. Gerard Pique returned as a 20-year-old to become a Barcelona legend, while Cesc Fabregas also picked up another Liga winners' medal following his decision to pack his bags for Catalonia once again.
Last summer, of course, Paul Pogba showed up at Old Trafford again in a move that not so long ago had seemed inconceivable.
Why it shouldn't happen
There is one major problem with the idea, though. Why on earth would Bayern sell Thiago?
The lowball €50m price tag that Don Balon mentioned risks increasing significantly between now and the end of the season if the Bayern midfielder maintains his current form.
A sumptuous match-winning pass against Hamburg in September gave a hint of things to come and Thiago's impressive displays since then were rightly praised by Bayern boss Carlo Ancelotti recently.
And that was before the Spanish international played an integral part in Bayern's most devastating performance of the season -- a 3-0 win over nearest challengers RB Leipzig that saw them move clear at the top of the Bundesliga ahead of the winter break.
Thiago was central to what Ancelotti called his team's "perfect" first half performance, scoring his third league goal of the season -- his best return so far at Bayern -- and setting up another for Xabi Alonso.
Given a free role behind Robert Lewandowski last Wednesday with Thomas Muller watching on from the bench, Thiago certainly seems to be enjoying life at Bayern.
"It's not just me -- the whole team is feeling better," Thiago said after the game.
"Today we had a lot of fun."
Pep Guardiola made a big effort to bring Thiago to Munich and the player contends that he is continuing to learn under Ancelotti.
"It's nice to learn from the best coaches in the world," he said.
"Pep has his philosophy, Carlo has his philosophy. You always develop further among the best."
Thiago seems to be benefitting from having the full backing of Ancelotti, who clearly appreciates having such a skilful and versatile talent at his disposal.
"He's a very important player who can play in any number of different midfield positions," Ancelotti said earlier this month. "Very few players possess his quality and flexibility."
Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said last week that a clutch of Bayern players signing new contracts over the past 12 months -- most recently Lewandowski -- shows that the German champions do not have to give up their key players.
Thiago is playing himself into that category. If there is any truth to the Barcelona rumour, it is a nice idea in theory. But if Thiago continues to excel in the New Year, keeping in mind that his contract runs until 2019, then it will be extremely hard for any club to prise him away from Bayern.