Gareth Bale is no longer the most expensive footballer in history…

Gareth Bale's status as the world's most expensive footballer lasted all of a week.

Details of the Welshman's move to Real Madrid were leaked last week which showed that the Spanish giants splashed £87m (€99.7m based on 2013 conversion rates) on his signature - crucially eclipsing the £80m paid for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009. But this morning Marca claim that they have proof that Ronaldo is still the most expensive footballer in the world as his transfer from Manchester United cost Madrid €104.7 m and not the €80m initially reported. According to Marca, because Real opted to pay the Ronaldo fee in three instalments, there was a significant increase in the price due to bank repayments on a loan of €72m. It's all rather convoluted and just seems to be a way of keeping Ronaldo happy at the Santiago Bernabeu...