Football Soccer, England vs Wales, EURO 2016, Group B, Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France on June 16, 2016. Soccer fan Laura Woods from England fixes her makeup near riot police near the Lens stadium before the England vs Wales game. (Photo by Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

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.

Fans gather to watch a FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 football match between Brazil and Costa Rica on a giant screen at Alzirao neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 22, 2018. (Photo by Carl De Souza/AFP Photo)

People celebrate France' s victory in the Russia 2018 World Cup final football match between France and Croatia, on July 15, 2018 in Toulouse' s city centre. (Photo by Eric Cabanis/AFP Photo)

Manchester City's Belgian midfielder #11 Jeremy Doku eyes the ball during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second-leg football match between Manchester City and Real Madrid, at the Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, north-west England, on April 17, 2024. (Photo by Paul Ellis/AFP Photo)

The World Cup's sеxiest fan Ivana Knoll has been swamped by football supporters asking for selfies in the center of Doha during the filming of the show “Shoot for love” in Souq Waqif, Doha, on December 11, 2022. (Photo by Goran Stanzl/PIXSELL/Splash News and Pictures)

Ethnic San Chi women dressed in traditional costumes play a friendly football match as part of the Soong Co festival celebrations in northern Vietnam's Quang Ninh province on April 24, 2021. (Photo by Nhac Nguyen/AFP Photo)

Mikel Merino of Spain and Maya Yoshida of Japan react on the pitch following a collision during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games men's semi-final football match between Japan and Spain at Saitama Stadium in Saitama on August 3, 2021. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)