136 million pounds ($224 million at last conversion-rate check)

Just let that figure sink in for a second.

With transfer fees reaching insane heights and rumors swirling faster than I can keep up with, the sheer amount of cash Real Madrid has thrown at two players has somewhat failed to register with many football fans. The term “World Record Transfer” may carry some weight with it, but the extent to which Madrid is overpaying for talent borders on financial insanity. With Karim Benzema on the way for a reported £29.7m the club is well on its way to spending over £200m in one summer.

Are two players really worth £136m? Well in order to analyze this you have to analyze how far that hefty sum can really go.

With this in mind, I set out to see just how far you can “stretch” £136m in modern football. My task was fairly simple: create a full lineup of 11 players (1 Keeper, 4 Defenders, 4 Midfielders and 2 Strikers) who transferred during the last three years (2007 and on) for less than Real Madrid paid for just Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. Here are the results, and I think you will be amazed with how formidable of a lineup I have fielded. All transfer figures are the closest approximation reported by mainstream media sources I could find.