In this Thursday, July 19, 2018, photo, a Syrian shopkeeper spraying water as waits for customers at the Hamadiyah market, named after the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II, in the Old City of Damascus, Syria. The celebratory mood in government-controlled areas stems from successive military advances in the past year and an impression that President Bashar Assad, with massive support by unwavering allies Russia and Iran, has won the war or at least militarily defeated the opposition trying to topple him. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)

Visitors wearing face masks walk near the Gwanghwamun, the main gate of the 14th-century Gyeongbok Palace, and one of South Korea's well-known landmarks, in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, February 22, 2020. South Korea on Saturday reported a six-fold jump in viral infections in four days to 346, most of them linked to a church and a hospital in and around the fourth-largest city where schools were closed and worshipers and others told to avoid mass gatherings. (Photo by Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

Demonstrators take part in a celebration as Sri Lanka's protest movement reached its 100th day at the Galle face protest area near Presidential secretariat in Colombo on July 17, 2022. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

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 woman arrives at the Shinto Meiji Shrine to pray on the first day of the new year in Tokyo, Japan, January 1, 2016. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A Vietnamese woman collects dried incense sticks at a courtyard in Quang Phu Cau village on the outskirts of Hanoi on January 9, 2020 ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations, referred to in Vietnam as Tet. (Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP Photo)

A man wearing a Transformers costume appeals to the citizens to stay at a home amid coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bandung, West Java Province, Indonesia, May 4, 2020. (Photo by Raisan Al Farisi/Antara Foto via Reuters)