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It's the new hot trend in sport, the fad bringing romanticism back to our games and leaving us all crowing for the "fairytale" stories. And it could soon be coming to Australia.
Wayne Rooney is the latest high-profile athlete to go home, following in the footsteps of the likes of LeBron James and Fernando Torres. All have their own individual motivations, but one reigns supreme — a dream of success in the colours they've grown up loving.
Rooney's story is now a familiar one in football. The local boy who broke through at his boyhood club — in his case Everton, the oldest club in Liverpool — and set local hearts racing, only to chase greener pastures, bigger paycheques and more silverware elsewhere.
He became the most expensive teenager in football at the time when he signed for Manchester United in 2004. Though Everton was distraught to have lost its boy, difficult times had hit the blue half of Merseyside, and the transfer fee all but saved the club financially.
From there, Rooney went on to win just about everything he could. Premier Leagues, a Champions League, FA Cups, League Cups, a Europa League. He scored more goals for Manchester United, one of the world's most iconic sporting entities, than anybody else in history.
For Rooney the decision to move was justified 100 times over, but for a long time, scars remained at Everton and in its fanbase. Fans voiced their displeasure by way of merciless booing, and a young Rooney often responded to fire with fire of his own.
Many fans have never and will never forgive Rooney for kissing United's badge in front of Everton fans at Goodison in the week Toffees' legend Alan Ball died. But for most, time heals old wounds.
The time feels right for Rooney, who revealed he has been sleeping in Everton pyjamas for all of the 13 years he has been away from the club, to return home. Everton is a different club, one with the ambition and means to accommodate an admittedly waning Rooney for the first time since 2004.
He wants to win things with Everton — he says it would be the "pinnacle" of his career — and he wants his kids, who have been brought up as Everton fans, to see him win things for Everton.
The story doesn't seem too far removed from that of LeBron James, who outgrew his home in Cleveland and moved on to Miami in 2010.
James, of course, proceeded to win the lot. Two championships with the Heat, twice finals MVP, four-times NBA MVP and a raft of other individual awards. He was the greatest player of a generation, possibly ever, but he wasn't complete.
Unlike Rooney, James' return came while he was at the peak of his powers, making his dreams of glory all the more tangible and the significance of the shift even greater.
The story of James' career will now feature the 2016 championship with the Cavaliers — a near-virtuoso performance coming from 3-1 down in the series against the magnificent Golden State Warriors — as the greatest act.
Those fans in Cleveland who had once burned their LeBron jerseys wept in the street as their prodigal son lifted the trophy. It was something beyond special, a unique sporting moment that brought a 13-year narrative to a thrilling conclusion.
All of this brings us to the Aussie elephant in the room by the name of Ablett.
The word on the street is Gary wants to come home. Geelong, of course, would welcome him back with the most open of arms, as Ablett is a player with petrol tickets still to spend and copious wisdom to impart.
There is one difference to Ablett's path when compared to Rooney and James though. Whereas his Premier League and NBA counterparts went on to reach greatness with their adopted clubs, Ablett's Suns have never even threatened it.
Sure, this is hardly Ablett's fault individually — he has been the best player in the AFL for every single season he spent injury-free on the Gold Coast — but it would colour any potential return to Geelong.
This isn't the local lad returning having gone away and seen it all, it's the local lad returning after having never quite had it as good as he once did.
But the lure remains. It's easy to forget, but all athletes were once fans just like any of us. And wouldn't we trade it all in for just one chance of glory in the colours of the team we love?
Topics: english-premier, soccer, sport, england, united-kingdom