Michael Murphy will line out for Donegal in 2025 and the county is brimming with excitement at the prospect of seeing him in action again.
In fact, GAA fans in general are delighted, because even though it means that Donegal will be stronger, and that their own county might potentially face the wrath of Murphy, it is always good to see the best players in the country take the field.
Derry legend Joe Brolly is particularly delighted, as he has always been a huge admirer of the flying full forward, but thought that the modern game stifled him.
Manager Jim McGuinness has a great relationship with the Glenswilly man, and although he managed to get him back, it wasn't easy, as Murphy initially rejected him last year and remained in the press box as a pundit.
In his latest Irish Independent article, Brolly reveals what McGuinness once told him about Murphy, and it is very telling.
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Jimmy said to me once at an event in Dublin that Michael was the key to everything they achieved. He said Michael was 'the one.'
"These two obsessive perfectionists were the only indispensables in that Donegal set-up. It is a terrible pity that the game invented by his mentor turned Michael’s prime years into such a dull anti-climax, for him and for us.
"He is one of the true greats. He just wasn’t able to show it. Last year, Jimmy, who needs a leader for his new team, could not persuade him to come back.
"Now, the great man is coming back and I cannot stop smiling."
McGuinness is a very persuasive man, and is difficult to say no to, so in some ways it shouldn't be a surprise that he managed to convince the 2012 All-Ireland winner to come back.
However, when you consider that the Donegal boss had already rolled out the red carpet last year for him, and he still said no, then it really is quite the U-turn.
Murphy admitted to Balls.ie last year, that the two were regularly in contact with each other.
"We chat a lot, we always do still chat a lot.
"We chat every couple of weeks and since he came back in that hasn't stopped.
"For me, it hasn't changed since day one when I made the call to retire. That was it, I was out. Just because Jim has come back, as much as there's a loyalty there from me to him, and from me to Donegal, it still doesn't change in terms of the playing point of view.
"Definitely, it was never a case of ever going back and that's still the case now. I'll try to give to Donegal in another way. I'm heavily involved with my own club and I'll get back involved with Donegal at underage now and give back in that way.
"No playing for me, it's job done, 100 per cent."
One thing that has changed since then is the likely introduction of the new rules by the Football Rules Committee, which Murphy was a part of.
Now teams will have to keep three forwards up at the other side of the field at all times, and the prospect of seeing the five-time All-Star do damage on the edge of the square is a very exciting one.
