Football Shirt Culture.com

According to The Mirror Football, Aston Villa are in talks with three multi-national companies over a five season shirt sponsorship deal worth £5m in the first year and rising up to £30million over 5 years.

For the last two years he has donated the club’s shirt advertising to charity in a ground-breaking tie-up with West Midlands children’s hospice Acorns, but Villa owner Randy Lerner decided to change the club’s sponsorship policy.

Acorns will be replaced by the new sponsor – although the club have told all potential backers that an ongoing support for the charity will be a condition of any deal.

A Villa spokesman confirmed: “We have made it clear that any new commercial partnership would still work very closely with Acorns as well, and that would be a cast-iron part of an agreement.

“The club are very proud of the work that has been done so far and believe everybody will benefit from making sure it continues.”

Villa’s last commercial sponsors were internet gambling company 32Red, and one of the first acts of Lerner’s regime was to buy out the deal in search of a major name on the kit.