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 woman crosses a road outside the EU Parliament ahead of the EU elections in Brussels, Belgium, May 22, 2019. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

Demonstrators take part in a protest aimed at showing London's solidarity with the European Union following the recent EU referendum, inTrafalgar Square, central London, Britain June 28, 2016. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

Migrants rush as they try to get on a train heading to the border with Serbia at the train station of Gevgelija, on the Macedonian-Greek border, on August 9, 2015. Non-EU Serbia's frontier with Hungary, which is in the bloc's passport-free Schengen zone, has become a major crossing point for the huge numbers of migrants entering the EU. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP Photo)

Britain Horse Racing, Royal Ascot, Ascot Racecourse on June 14, 2016. Racegoers in Britain and EU referendum themed dresses. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters/Livepic)

An Alitalia plane approaches to land as starlings fly at Fiumicino international airport in Rome October 14, 2013. Italy will have to notify a planned government-led 500-million-euro bailout of near-bankrupt airline Alitalia to EU regulators who will then assess whether the measure complies with EU state aid rules, the European Commission said on Monday. (Photo by Max Rossi /Reuters)

A woman dances as people gather near EU headquarters during a so called “European Demonstration for Freedom and Democracy” protest against COVID-19 security measures taken by European governments, in Brussels, Saturday, May 29, 2021. (Photo by Olivier Matthys/AP Photo)

A topless activist of women's rights group FEMEN tries to break a segment of the Berlin wall which is on display outside the German embassy, during a protest against EU visa regime for Ukrainian citizens in Kiev, Ukraine, November 24, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)