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 brushtail possum whose ears and legs have been burnt from recent bushfires sits in a cage before being transported to a wildlife hospital, in Batemans Bay, South of Sydney, Australia, 14 January 2020. (Photo by Steven Saphore/EPA/EFE)

A PSE&G utility worker watches the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds conduct “a collaborative salute” to honor those battling the COVID-19 pandemic with a flyover of New York and New Jersey, Tuesday, April 28, 2020, in this view from Jersey City, N.J. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP Photo)

A mannequin wearing a face mask stands at the entrance of a women's clothing store in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, June 1, 2020. After more than two months of quarantine to curb the spread of the new coronavirus the government authorized the restart of public transport and several industrial and commercial activities. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

Convicted murderer Hector Alvarado Mazariegos, right, drops to the ground as he is hit by bullets of a Guatemala firing squad in the public cemetery at Mazatenango, June 28, 1975. His companion, Rocael Ortiz, met the same fate a few seconds later. Both were convicted of murder. (Photo by AP Photo/Anzueto)

In this September 14, 2017 photo, young women pose for a photo inside their squatter building that used to house the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in the Mangueira slum of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Many lower-middle class Brazilians who gained ground during the boom years have since slid back closer to the poverty line. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

On the festival of Krishna Janmashtami, a girl costumed as Lord Krishna poses for a photo in Dhaka, Bangladesh on August 19, 2022. (Photo by Nayem Shaan/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A guard follows participants down a hallway in “Squid Game: The Trials”, an in-person interactive competition experience based on the Netflix show “Squid Games”, on December 20, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. At “Squid Game: The Trials” in Los Angeles, fans of all ages can relive the most emotional moments of Netflix's South Korean hit show – but there is a lot less blood and no one wins any prize money. (Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP Photo)