A spectator cools herself at a water spraying fan at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, January 17, 2017. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)
Shortlisted: “Two big eyes” by Miao Yong (Zejiang province, China). Damselflies look over the leaves. “I was photographing insects in a park near my home when suddenly I found two damselflies in the grass. They kept flying and it was very difficult to focus until suddenly they parked behind a leaf”. (Photo by Miao Yong/2017 Royal Society of Biology Photographer of the Year)
(L-R) Playmates Monica Sims, Heather Rae Young and Hiromi Oshima attend the Playboy party with TAO at Spire Nightclub on February 4, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Playboy)
A woman looks at the honour guard soldiers marching at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall, in downtown Moscow, on June 28, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)
A Ukrainian serviceman of the 3rd Assault Brigade fires a 122mm mortar towards Russian positions at the front line, near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (Photo by Alex Babenko/AP Photo)
An endangered desert bighorn lamb leaps in play at a park where bighorns are tempted to leave the safety of their native habitat to eat grass and drink water in the summertime on August 9, 2023 near Indio, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
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.