Manchester United has signed the biggest sponsorship deal in English football in a four-year £56.6m agreement with American insurance and financial services company American International Group (AIG).

The AIG brand will replace Vodafone on the United shirt from the start of next season.

The deal has beaten Chelsea’s previous record-breaking arrangement with Samsung and is the second largest deal in world football behind the £15m-a-year Juventus/Tamoil agreement.

United’s chief executive, David Gill, said: “AIGs worldwide operations complement our great fan base and we are excited about the global concepts this relationship brings to us.”

Elsewhere, Aston Villa has reached a “conditional agreement” with UK online casino and poker operator 32Red, in a deal understood to be worth £2.5m per year, to put the 32Red logo on their home and away from next season.