A supposed leaked picture of Nemanja Matic in a Manchester United training top did the rounds on Twitter on Sunday afternoon.
— brandon (@brandoe_1) 30 July 2017
The Chelsea midfielder, 29 on Aug. 1, has long been linked with a move to Old Trafford to be reunited with former boss Jose Mourinho. And when he was supposedly pictured in his new club gear, Twitter went into a frenzy with plenty of internet sleuths on the case.
The first "breakthrough" in deciphering whether it was a real picture or a superb Photoshop arrived after a clearer resolution picture emerged.
A clearer image of the supposed Matic leak. If this really is shopped, whoever did it should be applauded. pic.twitter.com/4f6JMma9xI
— Alex Shaw (@AlexShawESPN) July 30, 2017
From there, an old picture detailing a very faint mole on Matic's arm supposedly cleared things up.
— ridialio (@RidiAli) July 30, 2017
And it didn't stop there. Excited fans even ran the picture through identification software to determine whether it had been altered or not.
Ok, now we have this forensic result which confirms that the pic is legitimate and not edited. #detective https://t.co/NuIPGuXxjD
— Rahul Singh (@forevruntd) 30 July 2017
And it appeared it hasn't! While Manchester United have remained tight-lipped over the supposed leak, sources have told ESPN FC that Matic is heading to Old Trafford and could feature in their friendly against Sampdoria next week.