That would make it one of the largest such agreements ever struck by English football's top flight organisation, as reported by Sky Sports.

Sky News said that the 20 Premier League clubs were briefed at a meeting on Friday (February 10), that a new six-year partnership with EA Sports worth about £488 million ($587 million/€550 million) is close to being finalised.

One club executive said it would deliver more than £80 million ($96 million/€90 million) annually and would consist of EA remaining as the league's lead partner, as well as retaining its exclusive electronic game licence.

The lucrative extension is said to be worth more than double the existing deal involving the two parties.

News of the impending extension comes months after it emerged that EA and FIFA, world football's governing body, were severing their ties after 30 years.

The series of games bearing the FIFA name, and which feature teams and players from the world's top leagues, including in England, is to be rebranded under the EA name, according to reports last summer.

The New York-listed video game company, which has a market value of about $30 billion (£25 billion/€28 billion) has been a lead partner of the Premier League since 2016.

The Premier League declined to comment, while a spokesperson for EA told Sky News: "We don't comment on details of commercial relationships, or discussions with our partners."