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.

Revellers paint faces at Worthy Farm in Somerset for the Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts on Worthy Farm near the village of Pilton in Somerset, South West England, on June 21, 2017. The largest greenfield festival in the world Glastonbury Festival is now a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts. The Somerset Festival, which Michael Eavis started in 1970 when several hundred hippies paid just £1, now attracts more than 175,000 people. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

Riot police use a water cannon to disperse LGBT rights activist before a Gay Pride Parade in central Istanbul, Turkey, June 28, 2015. Turkish police fired water cannon and rubber pellets to disperse a crowd gathered in central Istanbul for the city's annual gay pride parade, a Reuters cameraman at the scene said. The police appeared intent on stopping the crowd gathering near Taksim Square, the cameraman said. Taksim is a traditional rallying ground for demonstrators and saw weeks of unrest in 2013. (Photo by Kemal Aslan/Reuters)

A grave cleaner holds up a skull during exhumation works at the Cemetery General in Guatemala City May 24, 2013. If a lease on a grave has expired or not been paid, grave cleaners will break open the crypts to remove and rebury the bodies. (Photo by Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

Participants in fancy costumes take part in march during the Prague Pride parade in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, 10 August 2019. Several thousands of people attended the 9th Prague Pride to support the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) communities. (Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Jorge (2nd R), 31, who is among members of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and his brother Paulo, 28, (R) laugh at Arouche Square in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, November 20, 2016. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Hira Naveed reacts to her shot on the eighth green during the first round of the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Thursday, April 18, 2024, at The Club at Carlton Woods, in The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo by Eric Gay/AP Photo)

A demonstrator holds up a picture depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin with make-up, during a protest by the gay community in Amsterdam April 8, 2013. Russia does not discriminate against homosexuals, Putin told reporters in Amsterdam on Monday where he was greeted by gay rights and other activists critical of Russia's track record. Putin is on one-day visit in the Netherlands for the start of the Netherlands-Russia Year. (Photo by Cris Toala Olivares/Reuters)