Manchester United has signed a four-year shirt sponsorship deal with the insurance giant Aon Corporation.

Aon will replace troubled US insurer AIG, which is restructuring itself having received a $150bn (£109bn) bail-out from the US government.

The new sponsor will appear on Manchester United's shirts from the start of the 2010/11 season.

Aon is based in Chicago and specialises in reinsurance, which is the selling of insurance to other insurers.

Neither Manchester United nor Aon has announced the terms of the deal or how much it is worth.

AIG paid £14m a year for its four-year deal, which ends in May 2010.

There have been reports that Aon's deal could be worth as much as £80m over four years.

Aon said it hoped that its relationship with Manchester United would help to improve its brand recognition.

It pointed out that after its first year sponsoring the team, AIG had become the 47th most recognised global brand and had jumped from number 84 to number 30 on Barron's list of most respected companies.

Cristiano Ronaldo will pick up a staggering £26m if Real Madrid do not sign him by the end of the month, it was claimed last night.

Former Madrid president Ramon Calderon reportedly promised the Ronaldo camp last summer he would do whatever it took to sign the Manchester United winger.

And that means Madrid could have to pay £80m to trigger an alleged buy-out clause in his contract.

Calderon was so confident of landing the 24-year-old, he agreed to pay him 30m Euros (£26m) if a deal was not clinched by the end of June. Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, it is claimed in several Spanish newspapers, is said to have agreed to pay the same amount to Real if his client backed out of the move.

United have always denied a deal is already in place to sell the World Player of the Year, while Ronaldo would be unable to negotiate with another club without the permission of his Old Trafford paymasters.

Controversial Calderon resigned as Real president in January and was replaced by Vicente Balouda following allegations of vote-rigging for the confirmation of the budget.

On Monday, Florentino Perez returned to run the club and it is understood he has instructed lawyers to challenge the legality of the pre-contract agreement with Ronaldo’s advisers.

Perez’s plan is to embark on drawn-out negotiations with United, hoping the Premier League champions might be forced to accept £60m to £70m as the transfer window draws to a close.

When asked about the secret agreement, Perez said: ‘I’ve been here for two days and no-one has told me about this.”

His vice-president Fernando Tapias refused to deny the outlandish claim on Spanish radio station Cadena Copè.

It was put to him: “I don’t know what is worse – if the club buys him he will cost 90m euros and if they don’t then it’s 30m.

He replied: “Yes but that is not our fault. He is a great player.

“That the price is exorbitant is also true. Maybe it is down to FIFA to put a 50m Euros cap on transfer fees. ”

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CARLOS TEVEZ will be the next to join Manchester City - unless neighbours United salvage a deal today.

The Argentine striker's advisor Kia Joorabchian is due to meet with Old Trafford chief executive David Gill.

The pair will discuss the possibility of United paying a further £25.5million to turn Tevez's two-year loan into a permanent move.

However, Joorabchian has already thrashed out a possible £32m transfer to Eastlands, just as SunSport told you first on May 23.

Tevez would team up with England midfielder Gareth Barry, who sealed his £12m switch to City from Aston Villa last night.

City boss Mark Hughes' stunning statement of intent is likely to leave his old United mentor Alex Ferguson fuming.

Tevez, 25, has had his head turned by the offer of a staggering £140,000- a-week wages from City.

Money is no object, with City's Arab owner Sheikh Mansour banking another £1.5bn by selling some Barclays shares last night.