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.

Blossoms and dust are blown by the wind as Jasmin Ricks, left, and her sister, Jessica Ricks, center, take in the cherry blossoms near the Tidal Basin in Washington on April 12, 2018. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Jim Mahoney looks out from his yard towards the construction of the Foxconn manufacturing complex, after he and his wife Kim refused to sell their home and property to Foxconn, in the Racine County city of Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin, U.S., July 27, 2019. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

An exile Tibetan monk gestures as he makes a point in a dialectics debate with another monk, sitting right, at the Kirti monastery in Dharmsala, India, Monday, January 18, 2016. The debate is an essential part of their training as Buddhist monks. (Photo by Ashwini Bhatia/AP Photo)

Jeremy Scott's spring 2019 collection is modeled during Fashion Week in New York, Thursday, September 6, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Hagen/AP Photo)

A Chicago Police Officer runs toward gunfire as looters break into downtown stores in the early hours of the morning on August 10, 2020. (Photo by RMV/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Heartlyn Rae duo (Alexis Driscoll and Julia Frys) poses for a picture in Barbie's Space Center during the World of Barbie immersive experience preview in Santa Monica, California, U.S., April 12, 2023. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

North Korean youngsters sing and play accordions to entertain foreign visitors including United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, who visited Pyongyang, May 4, 1979. Visitors report music education in North Korea begins at an early age and is taken seriously by children and adults. (Photo by Peter Arnett/AP Photo)