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 Cameroon fan waits for the start of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group G football match between Switzerland and Cameroon at the Al-Janoub Stadium in Al-Wakrah, south of Doha on November 24, 2022. (Photo by Hannah Mckay/Reuters)

Poland's Adrian Meronk, left, celebrates with his partner Melania Bobrowicz during the Australian Open golf championship at Victoria golf course in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, December 4, 2022. (Photo by Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AP Photo)

Moroccans celebrate after their team won the Qatar 2022 World Cup round 16 football match between Morocco and Spain, in Rabat, on December 6, 2022. (Photo by Fadel Senna/AFP Photo)

A Rohingya refugee bathes at a temporary shelter after arriving by boat in Laweueng, Aceh province on December 27, 2022. Rohingya refugees received emergency medical treatment after a boat carrying nearly 200 people came ashore in Indonesia on December 27, authorities said, in the fourth such landing in the country in recent months. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

People pass by the floating restaurant “Silver Whale” which partially sank during ice drift on the Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia, 27 March 2023. Rescuers try to secure it with ropes so that the restaurant is not swept away by the river. The temperatures have reached zero degrees Celsius in the second largest city of Russia. (Photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Members of Myanmar's vovinam team warm up before competing in the vovinam event at the 32nd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Phnom Penh on May 6, 2023. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan/AFP Photo)

Manchester City's Norwegian striker #09 Erling Haaland (L) sees his shot deflected into the net by Luton Town's Japanese defender #27 Daiki Hashioka (R) for an own-goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Luton Town at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on April 13, 2024. (Photo by Darren Staples/AFP Photo)