An instructor (C) adjusts the posture of students of flight attendant major during a training session at Anhui Foreign Languages University, in Hefei, Anhui province, China, May 25, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

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.

As Russia puts the finishing touches to the carefully manicured fields that will host the World Cup from next week, people around the globe are playing soccer on a surprising variety of makeshift pitches. Off the coast of an island in southern Thailand, they play on a floating platform; in the mountains of northern Italy, they kick about in the snow – images captured by Reuters photographers around the world. Here: Local residents play soccer on the top floor of a parking garage in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 4, 2018. (Photo by Darren Whiteside/Reuters)

A worker pulls one of her colleagues on a sled, normally used to transport boxes, in the finish area of the alpine ski venue at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, February 16, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

An injured protestor grieves in pain as police fire tear gas to disperse protesting members of the Inter University Students Federation during an anti government protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, May 19, 2022. Sri Lankans have been protesting for more than a month demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, holding him responsible for the country's worst economic crisis in recent memory. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)

In this handout image provided by Parks Australia, thousands of red crabs are seen walking in a drain on November 23, 2021 in Christmas Island. The annual migration of red crabs begins with first rains of the wet season on Christmas Island, usually around October or November. Millions of the red crabs make their way across the island to the ocean to mate and spawn. (Photo by Parks Australia via Getty Images)

The Radio City Rockettes perform during a rehearsal for their Christmas show in New York City, on October 13, 2021. The 2021 production will run from November 5, 2021, to January 2, 2022, at Radio City Music Hall. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

Glam revellers have proudly shown off their vaccine passports as they glammed up for a night on the town on the first day of fresh Covid restrictions in Newcastle, United Kingdom on December 15, 2021. Brits donning festive gear decided to tear up nightclub dance floors and booze in pubs despite fears over the Omicron variant. (Photo by Newcastle New Projects)