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Following a day of high drama in the financial world, the Premier League champions remained confident that their £56.5 million deal will be unaffected by the uncertainty surrounding AIG, though they are said to be in “close contact” with the company.

It is believed that AIG were seeking a $40 billion bridge loan from the Federal Reserve in an effort to stave off a downgrade from credit ratings agencies and also trying to shore up the capital of their holding company.

However, the company was yesterday granted a $20 billion lifeline after being told by New York governor David Paterson that it could borrow the money from AIG subsidiaries.

Rumours also swirled that AIG was in talks with billionaire investor Warren Buffet. News of the loan agreement came yesterday after AIG shares had fallen 45 per cent on Wall Street, having dropped by as much as 63 per cent in early trading.

United’s agreement with AIG, the biggest shirt sponsorship in English football, was signed in April 2006 after Vodafone ended their £9 million-a-year deal. The contract with AIG is worth about £14 million a year with United confident that the company will be able to fulfil their commitment to the agreement.

On Friday, West Ham were forced to terminate their shirt sponsorship deal with XL Leisure Group following news that the holiday company had gone into administration.

AIG are expected to make an early announcement about restructuring plans after suffering hefty losses from the credit crunch. The company have confirmed that they were reviewing their operations and looking at options with outside parties after shares fell dramatically over the past week.

Chief executive, Robert Willumstad, who took the reins of the world’s largest insurer in June, could announce a turn-around plan today. The group employ around 3,000 staff in the UK out of some 116,000 globally. They have 11 UK offices, including bases at Croydon, Reading, Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow.

Top deals

The big money
Arsenal: Emirates.
£100m (15-year stadium naming rights and eight-year shirt deal).

Man United: AIG.
£14m a year.

Chelsea: Samsung.
£10m a year.

Liverpool: Carlsberg.
£8m a year.

And then...

Aston Villa: Acorns.
A charity. Costs the club around £5m a year in revenue.

(Source: Telegraph.co.uk)