In the world of high-profile transfers, any little hint can be taken by fans and analysed as a good or bad sign towards whether a deal will go through.
So it's no surprise that an Instagram video of Riyad Mahrez partying with a group of friends on holiday soon did the rounds on social media, especially when one of those friends was Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland.
Manchester City are interested in Haaland as they pursue a prolific, world-class striker to replace Sergio Aguero, and there was plenty of hype surrounding Dortmund's visit to the Etihad in the Champions League for that reason.
After that game, Phil Foden sent the rumour mill into overdrive when he collared Haaland for a chat at full time, although the City man later confirmed that there was no transfer talk involved - simply a debrief of the game they'd both just played in.
"Am I allowed to say?" Foden said last month. "We were just talking about he missed a few chances in that game, so it was a chat in general about the game and the result.
"It was nothing too special, a lot of people thought it was about other things. It was just about the game in general."
Maybe Mahrez had better luck, then, as it looked like he was having a great time, as was Haaland, in the sun dancing along to music and waving things above their heads.
It wasn't long before Mahrez got wind of the video, and he only increased the excitement surrounding a current City player holidaying with a transfer target when he quote-tweeted it with the caption: "Agent Mahrez on duty", along with some laughing emojis.
However, Mahrez had some bad news for fans hoping he was actually working on persuading Haaland to join City, as he followed that up with: "Just having fun, calm down."
Mahrez has been subject of some transfer speculation himself, with reports suggesting he could be sold or used in a swap deal to facilitate a move for Haaland or Harry Kane.
However, the Algerian has repeatedly stressed he has no intentions of leaving City, and would be happy to end his career at the Etihad.
