People fight for the ball as they take part in a mud football match during a festival for celebrating harvest in a village in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China September 24, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

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 poses as she beside David Hammons painting on an America flag “Injustice case” at the exhibition Soul Of A Nation, exploring the art made by African American artists between 1963 and 1983, in London, Tuesday, July 11, 2017. The exhibition starts on July 12, 2017 nd ends on Oct.22, 2017. (Photo by Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

Balis Chinese community perform the dragon dance during Chinese New Year called Ngelawang ceremony on January 21, 2023 in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. The Chinese diaspora of Southeast Asia is celebrating Lunar New Year, as COVID-19 restrictions have been removed, it is traditionally a time for people to meet their relatives and take part in celebrations with families. In Indonesia, ethnic Chinese families visited temples to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit on January 22. (Photo by Agung Parameswara/Getty Images)

People pass by the floating restaurant “Silver Whale” which partially sank during ice drift on the Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia, 27 March 2023. Rescuers try to secure it with ropes so that the restaurant is not swept away by the river. The temperatures have reached zero degrees Celsius in the second largest city of Russia. (Photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Lexi Tonniges (C) and Lauren Grundmann (R), joined by other dancers, perform on a stage during a rally outside a hearing concerning the US singer Britney Spears’ conservatorship at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles, California, USA, 12 November 2021. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/EPA/EFE)

People spend the summer at Qingdao seaside in Shandong, China on July 3, 2019. The maximum temperature of Qingdao beach was 26 degrees Celsius on that day, and all the 9 sea bathing places were open, attracting a large number of visitors to the seaside to enjoy the cool world. (Photo by Huang Jiexian/ZUMA Press)

This photo taken on November 4, 2019 shows people taking part in a fish catching competition in a paddy field in Leishan county in China's southwestern Guizhou province, to celebrate the new year festival Miao people. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)