The news that John Terry will be leaving Chelsea at the end of the season may have been oddly timed the day after a damaging defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford, but as soon as it became clear on Monday that the Stamford Bridge legend would be plying his trade somewhere else, speculation kicked off.
Terry wants to play football, and while his value to the Chelsea dressing room is something that is going to be difficult impossible to replace, if Antonio Conte can't offer him that then the only option is to find it elsewhere.
But where is that going to be? It'll be strange seeing Terry in anything other than the blue of Chelsea, but the former England captain is going to have plenty of offers.
West Ham United have made their interest known, and while they can pay a good wage and offer him Premier League football... Would he really play for another London club?
Then you've got the MLS, where he can enjoy an outstanding quality of life while earning a nice wage in a comfortable league like his good pals Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard chose to do, and of course China and Qatar will surely offer Terry an utterly outrageous wage to uproot his life in England and become the face of their respective leagues.
But you can't rule out a trip up North to Scotland either. As soon as the news broke, you can be sure that Brendan Rodgers' ears pricked up considering their excellent relationship.
In a 2013 interview with The Independent, which was recirculated via Scottish sports site TalkingBaws.com, Terry revealed his love for Rodgers which we don't expect to have changed since.
I know Brendan very well. He is a great manager and was brilliant for me and the other players. I can only speak highly of him.
There were many ways he helped me. When Jose was there he was always around. A couple of times I was left out of the side or injured and he’d pull me to one side. He did a nice little video of me scoring goals, making tackles and had a 15 to 20 minute chat with me.
At the time it was something nobody had ever done and it just goes to show his man-management and how well he’s doing and how well he’ll do in the future. It’s little things like that which really gives you a boost when you’re down. He was a real gentleman.
He was around quite a lot, fed off Jose and obviously learnt a lot from him.
But you could see he had it in him to go on, his mannerisms around the players, he had a great rapport with the players at the training ground on a daily basis.
There's clearly a bond there, and it could be a deciding factor in where Terry ends up.
If Celtic can manage to secure Champions League football again next season, it makes them an entirely more attractive proposition, and Rodgers will likely be looking for someone to take up the Kolo Toure role of experienced pro in the dressing room (plus being able to offer more on the playing side of things than the Ivorian can), so it's certainly not beyond the realm of possibility.
Celtic fans are already getting excited at the prospect:
John Terry, sign him up, #CelticFC #Celtic #HailHail
— Peter Walsh (@peterwalsh27) April 18, 2017
We've all heard the patter about English nans scoring 50 goals a year in Scotland, if John Terry joins Celtic we'll see if they were right.
— Reece (@_RH67) April 18, 2017
I know it's football manager stuff but even tho he's a wanker , I would take John terry in a heartbeat #Celtic #Winner
— Peter Brown (@petebrown86) April 17, 2017
@celticfc John terry is out of contract at the end of the season, inform Brendan. Loves the Celtic and one of the best cbs ever.
— Kieran Nicol (@KieranNicol25) March 31, 2017
John Terry can become the next Kolo Toure
— Worldwide Celtic (@WorldwideCeltic) April 17, 2017
Terry has even been up to watch the Bhoys play during Rodgers' time as boss, as well as playing in Stiliyan Petrov's charity match where he pulled on the jersey and had a run out at Celtic Park.
We've seen fans get carried away by the rumour mill, with James McCarthy in January being a shining example, but this one has enough to it to suggest it may in fact be a possibility.
