Football transfers are not cheap. To have a player strengthen their ranks, teams are willing to pay big money. The football transfer considered to be the most expensive in the sport's history was that of Gareth Bale leaving Tottenham to play at Real Madrid. The Spanish club paid not less than £86 million (about $133 million at today's exchange rates) to have the player among its own. But recent news suggest that this record might be broken this year. According to reports in the media, UK Premier League team Manchester United is willing to almost double that amount.

A man dressed as Father Frost, Russian equivalent of Santa Claus, sits by the fire with a reindeer Yakut, marking winter solstice at the Royev Ruchey Park of Flora and Fauna in the Siberian Taiga wood in the suburbs of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, December 21, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Voters line up to cast their ballots at a polling station in the city of Qom, Iran. Elections for Iran's parliament (Majlis) and Assembly of Experts kicked off on Friday, February 26, 2016. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire)

Afghan female police cadets are seen during their graduation ceremony at Sivas Police Vocational Center Directorate in Sivas, Turkey on March 13, 2018. (Photo by Serhat Zafer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Hot air balloons are displayed during an exhibition, in Caracas, Venezuela, 09 December 2022. The Government of Venezuela inaugurated an international transport exhibition to attract investment for a sector that has almost been paralyzed for the past five years but has begun to show signs of recovery this year. Venezuela has one of the most obsolete vehicle fleets in Latin America.. (Photo by Miguel Gutierrez/EPA/EFE)

Sparkler fireworks are created by Palestinian children in the al-Zaytoun district on the east of Gaza City on March 28, 2023 during Ramadan. The fireworks, which are made with steel wire wool, are part of the celebrations in the Palestinian enclave during the Muslim holy month. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/IMAGESLIVE via ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

English-French actress Jane Birkin shopping with a basket bag in Paris on June 4, 1970. (Photo by WATFORD/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)

Syrian fighters from the Turkish-backed National Liberation Front (NLF) fire a missile against regime positions on May 13, 2019 in the rebel-held northern part of Syria's Hama province. Clashes on the edge of a jihadist bastion in northwestern Syria have killed at least 42 fighters in 24 hours, a monitor said today, after regime bombardment on the region devastated health services. (Photo by Omar Haj Kadour/AFP Photo)