Real Madrid Breaks World Record for Gareth Bale!

We all know that football is a big money business nowadays - it generates revenue far greater than the GDP of many African nations combined. 

The player market often seems to be immune to the global economy as is apparent with Real Madrid's ridiculous yet successful £85.3 million world record breaking bid for Tottenham's Gareth Bale even though Spain is right smack in the middle of one of the worst recessions in its history. 

Whether he's worth that much money, that's up to you, although if Ancelotti or whoever's in charge of Real can get a potential Isco-Ronaldo-Bale triumvate working up front and scoring more goals than the whole Barca team, then you could say it was money well spent - only just though! 

Gareth Bale will be unveiled as a Real Madrid player on Monday at 12pm - just 11 hours before the transfer window officially shuts.

Gareth Bale - the new holder of the world's biggest transfer record 

Here are the other most expensive transfers in world football history - and whether they paid off.

Rio Ferdinand, Leeds United to Manchester United - £30 million
Probably the best 30 million quid that Ferguson ever spent. Ferdinand has been United's rock at the back for nearly 10 years now and it looks like he'll be staying there for a while yet. Funnily enough, Ferdinand already held the transfer record in England when he moved from West Ham to Leeds. ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!

Luis Figo, Barcelona to Real Madrid - £37 million, 2000
The first of many transfers on this list involving that team from Madrid and probably the most controversial of them all and one wonders if Barca fans will ever forgive the Portuguese maestro for joining their greatest ever rivals just to break the transfer record. He did win a Champions League title so I guess that justified this transfer. JUSTIFIED!

Carlos Tevez, Manchester United to Manchester City - £47 million, 2008
Another controversial transfer not just because it involved a move between two big rivals but also because of the involvement of Tevez's agent - which probably pushed up the price by quite a bit. Tevez was inspirational in his time in blue - when he wanted to play that is. Now at Juventus after the big clean up at the Etihad this summer. JUSTIFIED (most of the time)!

Zinedine Zidane, Juventus to Real Madrid - £48-50 million, 2001
Hard to believe now but Zidane's transfer was comfortably the most expensive transfer in the world back in 2001. Zizou's inflated price tag was justified by his many individual accolades including the Ballon d'Or, Serie A and FIFA World Player of the Year awards - the last one he would win again in 2003 as a Real Madrid player. Now a Real Madrid adviser. ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!

Fernando Torres, Liverpool to Chelsea - £50 million, 2011
The most expensive transfer in British football history at the moment and one you could say that definitely benefited Liverpool more so than Chelsea at this time. The jury is very much out on this one with El Nino still not quite getting the goals in blue as he did early on in his career at Anfield. You can hear Atletico calling on this one. DEFINITELY TOO MUCH. 

Kaka, AC Milan to Real Madrid - £56 million, 2009
Broke Zizou's transfer record in 2009 after a glorious time in Serie A like Zizou. Unlike Zizou though, Kaka hasn't quite had the impact at the Bernabeu with injury hampering his success there. He has become an integral part of the team now although will still continue to be linked with moves away. JUSTIFIED (just)!

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Internazionale to Barcelona - £59 million, 2009
Surprisingly, Barcelona's only entry on this list - it just shows you how good their academy is that they don't feel like they have to follow their big rivals inland and spend big money on players. Ibrahimovic's mixed success in Pep Guardiola's Barca just underlined Barca's preference for homegrown players rather than spending large - Ibrahimovic went back to Milan before going to PSG (lots of money involved for sure). TOO MUCH!

Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United to Real Madrid - £80 million
The current world record holder - and deservedly so. When Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid, he had won 3 Premier League titles with Manchester United, a Champions League title, and was undisputedly PFA Player of the Year and multiple runner-up only to Leo Messi for the Ballon d'Or. While Ronaldo hasn't quite won as many titles as he would have liked due to Barca's dominance, he has been a hit at Real Madrid although he has recently shown a desire to leave. ABSOLUTELY RIGHT (think of all those jerseys they sold in China!)

So, Gareth, you have a lot to live up to then.