January: the month where a million writers, bloggers, newspapers and websites get more eyeballs on their works than any other.

Thanks to its winter transfer window, and the plethora of the rumors of potential player moves that come with it, January is a writer’s best friend. Pick up the scent of a rumor without a credible source, spin it however you like, publish, and then sit back and let it run. It’s no secret that fans, desperate for a turn in fortunes or a continuation of success, will read anything that gives them hope. Knowing that gives publishers the impetus to pump out as much rubbish each January as your average American couch potato produces in a year.

But as the case is with many rumors, there’s often a little truth in each supposition. It might not be anything too concrete. However, that doesn’t mean that a club didn’t make an inquiry, an agent didn’t talk to potential suitors, or a player isn’t slightly unsettled.

So when I read rumors of Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge potentially moving to Liverpool in a few weeks’ time, I knew I should take it with a massive grain of salt. After all, Sturridge represents exactly one half of Chelsea’s strike force. And though the £50 million Fernando Torres’ impotence isn’t as bad as advertised, the club selling of their only other option up front seems an incredibly risky move. Not even trigger-happy Roman Abramovich would pull off that kind of move without some kind of back up plan.

And it’s that backup plan which I find to be the most fascinating aspect of the January transfer window: the domino effect a single transfer can have on the rest of the professional game’s clubs across the world.

Let’s assume for a second that Liverpool do end up buying Sturridge from Chelsea, leaving the Blues short-changed and necessitating the purchase of another forward. Conveniently, Chelsea have been consistently linked to Radamel Falcao, the Colombian scoring machine currently pouring in the goals for Atlético Madrid. But just as Chelsea would be left shorthanded after Sturridge’s departure, Atlético would also need to fill Falcao’s sizable shoes if he’s shipped out. But where would Los Rojiblancos turn?

The rumor mill keeps on churning, hypothesizing that Atlético would look to buy names like Manchester United’s Chicharito, Napoli’s Edison Cavani, or even Liverpool’s Luis Suárez. Whether there’s any truth in any of those rumors is a bit beyond my reach. But at the same time, if any of those moves did come to fruition, the dominoes would begin to fall all over again.

In the case of Napoli, Cavani has long seemed destined for a move abroad. But the Uruguayan’s departure would mean the Neapolitans‘ would be left with only two recognized strikers in their squad. Manchester United could stomach Chicharito’s departure, but you would have to imagine that Sir Alex wouldn’t be happy to rely on just Danny Wellbeck, an untested Ángelo Henríquez, and an unfancied Federico Macheda to back up his dynamic duo. And Liverpool, where this entire domino effect started, would   again be down to two strikers if they let Luis depart for pastures anew. Meaning they would again be fored to dip into the transfer market or be faced with the same issue that’s troubled them in the first half of this season.

And regardless of which guy ends up replacing whatever player eventually leaves any club,  the dominos will keep up on falling all the way down the line. A perfect representation of the butterfly effect, if I’ve ever seen one.

Of course, all of this is dependent upon what player moves where. And it’s quite possible that none of the above will hold true. But rest assured, players will move this January, and the media will spin out more rumors than any of us could ever take in. Just don’t go placing your hopes on any of them until you see a new player holding your team’s shirt and smiling wide for the cameras. Otherwise, your sanity will likely be the last domino to fall.