Transfer rumors are always running rampant, regardless of the day. And over the last few days, one rumor has caught a lot of attention.

The rumors goes like this: Manchester United is interested in pursuing Gareth Bale. This is nothing new, as this particular bit of speculation has been around for weeks. But a new piece of information was added to the story to provide some entertainment.

The claim is that Real Madrid is more than happy to send Bale back to England, but in return, the team wants money and Angel Di Maria.

Yes, Angel Di Maria.

The player that sat on the bench early last season in favor of Gareth Bale before regaining his spot in the lineup, albeit in a new role.

The same Angel Di Maria who was once again relegated to the bench with the arrival of James Rodriguez this summer and who apparently refused to re-sign a contract with the team.

The same Angel Di Maria who asked to be shipped out and apparently ended his relationship with Los Blancos on bad terms.

This rumor is quite interesting, but makes absolutely no sense. For either side.

Let us look at Manchester United's perspective.

The team went through a lot to purchase Di Maria this summer and the team has consistently reaped benefits from his arrival. Here are some telling stats: Di Maria leads the team with an average of 3.1 key passes per game. Who is second? Wayne Rooney with only 1.4 key passes per game.

Di Maria is first in assists on the team with five. Second is currently injured forward Radamel Falcao with two; Rooney also has two. He is also first on the team with through balls per game and crosses per game with an average of 2.4; Anderson, Ashley Young, Nani and Rafael round out the top five in this category. Of those other four players, only Rafael has more than five games on the season; Nani is not even on the team anymore. Juan Mata sits sixth with an average of 0.6 crosses per game.

So clearly Di Maria makes the midfield click in every way possible.

And to add injury to insult for the rest of his team, he is tied for most goals on the team with three; the others with three goals are Rooney, Falcao and Robin van Persie, players expected to put in about 20 per year.

And Di Maria also leads the team in shots per game and dribbles per game.

Why would any team be willing to give away its top player of the year after spending so much to acquire him?

The team would definitely benefit from getting Bale, but not at the expense of Di Maria.

So now let us flip things and look at it from Real Madrid's perspective.

Di Maria's break-up with the team was embarrassing. Especially when compared with the classier display from Xabi Alonso around the same exact time. There is probably still some bad blood between player and team a few months after the divorce.

And more importantly, why bring back Di Maria without actually having a place to put him? A week ago, many were wondering what Carlo Ancelotti was going to do about returning Gareth Bale to the starting lineup. James Rodriguez and Isco were looking terrific together on the wings of Ancelotti's 4-4-2 and Bale's return was no guarantee that he would deliver on the same level.

But Bale did return via Isco's benching and delivered in every way.

Bale scored a goal in the opening 10 minutes of the game and looked lethal on the opposite side of Cristiano Ronaldo in Ancelotti's preferred 4-3-3.

And while some have complained that he hasn't been terrific all season long, his stats deny that claim. He has seven goals over all competitions and is third in that department for the team. He is sixth on the team in assists, but the players above him include Toni Kroos, Ronaldo, Isco, Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez; that lineup would be top in assists on most other teams. Not to mention that Bale has actually played less games than every single one of those players. He is second on the team in shots per game (Ronaldo is above him), he is fifth in key passes (while only averaging 29.5 passes per game!), his passing percentage is better than Di Maria's (and everyone knows that Ancelotti is big on possession these days) and he is third on the team in through balls per game.

And most importantly, Bale possesses tremendous speed that no one on the team can provide. It is this speed that has forced other teams to double mark him in many games, leaving Ronaldo and Benzema with more space on the other side of the pitch. The result? Eighteen Spanish League goals for Ronaldo and six for Benzema.

Factor in the fact that Bale was brought in a year ago and went on to score game-winning goals in the Copa del Rey final and Champions League final (he also scored over 20 goals last season), and there is simply no argument to be made that Madrid would consider this offer.

Do you think that Madrid and Manchester United will swap Angel Di Maria and Gareth Bale? Let us know in the comments section below.