WAKATI GARETH BALE AKIWEKEWA NGUMU NA KLABU YAKE KUVUNJA REKODI YA DUNIA, SOMA TAARIFA HII KUZIJUA WALIWAHI WAHI KUVUNJA REKODI HUKO NYUMA....................................................

Record breaker? Gareth Bale could be set to join Real Madrid from Tottenham for a staggering £85million.

 From a £100 Scot to £80m Ronaldo, will Bale's touted move to Real Madrid break the world

It has been broken 41 times over 120 years to the total cost of an astonishing £411,964,490.

And that could soon go over the half a billion pound mark if Tottenham's Gareth Bale breaks it again to become the most expensive player in history signing for Real Madrid for a mind-boggling fee.

Sheffield United broke it in 1913, so too did Preston North End and Derby County, both in 1949.

Five in a row for Madrid?

Real Madrid have broken the transfer record four times in succession - for Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Spanish giants want to do so again by signing Gareth Bale from Tottenham for £85million.
Scroll down for a full list of the record-breaking deals.

We are, of course, talking about breaking the world transfer record. But it wasn't always about multi-million pound deals, players demanding moves and agents touting their clients around the globe. It started with £100.

Scot Willie Groves was the very first player to be transferred for a three-figure sum when he moved from West Bromwich Albion to Aston Villa for £100 in 1893. Fast forward to 2013 and multiply that amount by 800,000 and the record is still Cristiano Ronaldo's £80,000,000million move to Real Madrid in 2009.

Main man: Cristiano Ronaldo is the world's most expensive player after joining Real Madrid for £80m.

During that time the record has exchanged hands 41 times across 12 countries all over the world.

Diego Maradona broke it twice in a row – first moving from Boca Juniors to Barcelona for £3million in 1982 and almost doubling that two years later when he moved to Napoli for £5m.

Luis Suarez has done it once. Not that Luis Suarez, of course, but the Spanish Suarez who in 1961 moved from Barcelona to Inter for £152,000. It was the first transfer fee to move into six figures. Fourteen years later Bologna's Giuseppe Savoldi was the first to push the million pound mark when he moved to Napoli for £1.2m.

Times have changed: Enrique Omar Sivori joined Juventus from River Plate for £93,000 in 1957.

Superstars: Johan Cruyff (left) and Diego Maradona both broke the record during their distinguished careers.

England dominated the spending in the first half of the 20th century but since 1951 Alan Shearer is the only Briton to subject to a record deal – when he moved from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle for £15m in 1996 – and Manchester United are the only English club to be included in a record transfer by selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in 2009.

Having never previously paid a record breaking transfer fee, Real Madrid have paid the last four since 2000, for Luis Figo (£37m), Zinedine Zidane (£53m), Kaka( £56m) and Ronaldo – and could be about to break it for a fifth consecutive time. The fee for Ronaldo's transfer is greater than the first 33 record breakers all added together.

History: Signing Ronaldo saw Real Madrid break the record for the fourth time in a row following the signings of Luis Figo from bitter rivals Barcelona (above), Zinedine Zidane from Juventus and Kaka from AC Milan (below).

The list includes some sparkling names; Roberto Baggio, Ruud Gullit, Johan Cruyff, (the original) Ronaldo and Gianluca Vialli, to name only a few.

Italy lead the way as record breakers. They have sold the most expensive player on the planet 13 times, bought the most expensive player on the planet 18 times and they must put something special in their pasta because nine Italians have been the most expensive signing.

Failed: Denilson's transfer to Real Betis for £21.5m in 1998 stunned the world but he struggled to impress.

Strike it rich: Hernan Crespo (left) and Alan Shearer broke the record, joining Lazio and Newcastle respectively

Full list of world record football transfers

World record football transfers by country