Martin Odegaard (right) joined Real Madrid in January 2015
When Real Sociedad announced on Saturday that Norwegian Martin Odegaard would be joining Manchester City, that seemed the perfect tonic for the Premier League champions after Friday's 3-2 defeat at Wolves.
The 21-year-old attacking midfielder appeared to have finally fulfilled his promise at the Basque club with four goals and five assists during this season's loan spell from Real Madrid, so the news caught a few by surprise.
"Real Sociedad have reached an agreement with Manchester City over the loan of Martin Odegaard," said the Sociedad statement. "The player is set to stay at City until the end of the season.
"The club wants to thank and offer recognition for the job done by Martin. He has shown great professionalism, dedication and loyalty to this club and we wish him well for the future.
"We are forced to take this difficult decision in order to avoid possible media comments for the next six months. What a relief!"
Of course, for those who had not already realised this was a joke on Spain's equivalent of April Fool's Day (Dia de los Santos Inocentes), that final sentence was the giveaway.
View more on twitter
Source: bbc.com