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.

“Panopticons is an arts and regeneration project of the East Lancashire Environmental Arts Network managed by Mid Pennine Arts. It involved the construction of series of 21st-century landmarks, or Panopticons (structures providing a comprehensive view), across East Lancashire, England, as symbols of the renaissance of the area”. – Wikipedia

Photo: “Singing Ringing Tree. The Singing Ringing Tree is a musical sculpture overlooking Burnley. It was designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu and constructed from pipes of galvanised steel”. (Photos by WandereringSoul/Mark Tighe)

Audience members react as American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift gets onstage to receive the Artist of the Year award during 2022 American Music Awards, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 20, 2022. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Farmers take a break for lunch while celebrating National Paddy Day, also called Asar Pandra, that marks the commencement of rice crop planting in paddy fields as monsoon season arrives, in Kathmandu, Nepal, June 29, 2020. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Bride Ana Vallejos, wearing a traditional “Caporales” Andean outfit, is escorted by her parents to her wedding celebration, in La Paz, Bolivia, Saturday, December 12, 2020. As a measure to reactivate the economy, the Bolivian government lifted restrictions to help curve the spread of the new coronavirus. Sporting, religious and cultural events may take place publicly until mid-January. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

A prototype Rollkers transportation device is displayed during a press event at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center for the 2015 International CES on January 4, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The product is not a skate; it balances for you and when you place it on the bottom of your shoe, it gives you the ability for faster transportation based on walking. The balance CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs from January 6-9 and is expected to feature 3,600 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to about 150,000 attendees. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

A demonstrator waves Turkey's national flag as he sits on a monument during a protest against Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AK Party in central Ankara June 2, 2013. Erdogan accused Turkey's main secular opposition party on Sunday of stirring a wave of anti-government protests, as tens of thousands regrouped in Istanbul and Ankara after a lull and trouble flared again in the capital. Police used tear gas on protesters in Ankara but the clashes were relatively minor compared with major violence in Turkey's biggest cities on the previous two days. (Photo by Umit Bektas/Reuters)