Trade Soccer: World Record Breakers: From a £100 Scot to Ronaldo for £80m, and now Bale - look at the history of the world's record transfer

The world transfer record has been broken for the 42nd time in history after Real Madrid spent an astonishing £86million on Gareth Bale from Tottenham.

The splurge from the Spanish giants takes the total cost of world record fees to just short of the half a billion pound mark at £497million.

Sheffield United broke the world record 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 five times in succession - for Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and now Gareth Bale.

Scroll down for a full list of the record-breaking deals.

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.

During that time the record has exchanged hands 42 times across 13 countries all over the world.

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

TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE WELSHMAN

Gareth Bale £86.9m (Tottenham to Real Madrid, 2013/14)
Joe Allen £16.5m (Swansea to Liverpool, 2012/13)
Craig Bellamy £13.5m (West Ham to Manchester City, 2008/09)
Gareth Bale £13m (Southampton to Tottenham, 2007/08
John Hartson £7.5m (West Ham to Wimbledon)
Gary Speed £7.3m (Everton to Newcastle, 1997/98)
Ben Thatcher £6.6m (Wimbledon to Spurs, 2000/01)
Jason Koumas £6.1m (West Brom to Wigan, 2007/08)
Aaron Ramsey £5.6m (Cardiff to Arsenal, 2008/09)
Nathan Blake £5.2m (Bolton to Blackburn, 1998/99)

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.

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 five since 2000, for Cristiano Ronaldo (£80m) Luis Figo (£37m), Zinedine Zidane (£53m), Kaka (£56m) and now Bale.

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

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.

The fee for Bale is more than the combined total transfer fees of the top 10 most expensive Welshman of all-time.

Full list of world record football transfers