A flock of starlings flies over Lake Leman on an autumn morning in the Lavaux near Grandvaux, Switzerland October 20, 2016. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/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.

A stork starts from its nest in the cliffs high above the Atlantic Ocean in Cabo Sardao, Portugal, Friday, March 29, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Fog hangs between pine trees in a forest near Neubrueck, eastern Germany, on November 20, 2012. Meteorologists forecast cloudy sky and temperatures around 5 degrees Celsius for the region. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/AFP Photo)

A bee and a red squirrel eyeball each other in the winning entry of the Mammal Society’s annual photography contest, taken by Gary Watson from Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands. (Photo by Gary Watson/Mammal Society/Bav Media)

A pine marten – one of a few wild mammals doing well in Britain (although they number just 3,700). A fifth of the country’s wild mammals are at high risk of extinction, research shows. (Photo by Maurice Flynn/The Mammal Society)

Japan's Chinami Yoshida shouts instructions to teammates during a women's curling semifinal match between Japan and Switzerland at the Beijing Winter Olympics Friday, February 18, 2022, in Beijing. (Photo by Nariman El-Mofty/AP Photo)

A sun bear is offered chocolate by a visitor in its enclosure at a zoo in Bandung on January 18, 2017. Animal rights activists on January 18 demanded the closure of an Indonesian zoo after skeletal sun bears were pictured begging for food from visitors and eating their own dung. (Photo by Timur Matahari/AFP Photo)