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.

2016 Rio Olympics, Weightlifting, Final, Women's 69kg, Riocentro, Pavilion 2, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 10, 2016. Leidy Solis (COL) of Colombia competes. (Photo by Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

Competitors take part in the 8th annual World Gravy Wrestling Championships at the Rose n Bowl Pub in Bacup, north west England on August 31, 2015. Contestants must participate in fancy dress and wrestle in a pool of Lancashire Gravy for 2 minutes whilst being scored for a variety of wrestling moves. (Photo by Oli Scarff/AFP Photo)

Protesting university students flee as police fire stun grenades outside Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, Wednesday October 21, 2015. The protests are part of a wave of nationwide protests that have shut down many South Africa universities, which say they are struggling with higher operational costs as well as inadequate state subsidies. (Photo by AP Photo)

English actress Lily James attends the “What's Love Got To Do With It?” UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on February 13, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Zak Hussein/Splash News and Pictures)

Dennis Hong a professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at UCLA Samueli School of Engineering attempts to impede the movement of ARTEMIS, a full-sized humanoid robot with first-of-its-kind technology in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 13, 2023. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

American television personality Dolores Catania in the first decade of February 2024 gets the “hot gossip” in a staged photo. (Photo by dolorescatania/Instagram)