The American insurance giant (or should that be pygmy?) has had to be rescued by the US Treasury in a $80 billion bail out and it seems unlikely that the American taxpayer will want to meet the Old Trafford shirt bill in future seasons.

Ladbrokes make Vodafone the 4/1 second favourites, followed by Saudi Telecom at 5/1. Spurs sponsor Mansion are offererd at a silly price of 6/1 (they’ve learned the lesson that shirt sponsorship does not work well for online bookies) and Budweiser are offered at 8/1.

Here at Bookies Blog Towers, we reckon Nike is a solid price at 3/1 but we think it might be worth enquiring about odds on Puma or Adidas taking over. Both are engaged in a huge global growth programme and could be genuinely interested in getting their names on the Red Devil’s shirts.