An official announcement was even made. Little did they know it was all a prank.

With David Silva set to leave Man City at the end of the season, Man City fans have been wondering how their club would replace the Spanish legend. Would the club rely on the promising Phil Foden to fill the void or would they, as they have done many times before, dive into the transfer window and splash some cash?

Real Sociedad pulled off a prank on Saturday that had many believing the latter to be true. The Liga side took to Twitter to announce a deal with the Premier League giants over the transfer of Martin Odegaard.

The Norwegian talent, who is a Real Madrid player, is on loan at the Anoeta Stadium in a two-year deal. Despite this, the Spanish club stated that an agreement had been reached for a loan that would see the 21-year-old move to the Etihad Stadium until the end of the current season.

So what is the catch? This was all a prank! This statement was published today on December 28, which just happens to be Dia de los Inocentes, Spain's very own version of April Fools' Day.

"Real Sociedad have reached an agreement with Manchester City over the loan of Martin Ødegaard. The player is set to stay at Manchester City until the end of the season," La Real's announcement read.

"The txuri urdin 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!"

Man City did not appear to be in on this joke so this might have caught the champions of England off guard. However, there has been speculation of Odegaard's loan deal being cut short. The midfielder has impressed at Real Sociedad, scoring four goals and assisting five, leading to rumors of Real Madrid cutting this agreement in order to recall him back to the Bernabeu.