Manchester United have dropped out of the top three of Europe's top-earning clubs for the first time.

The club are now fourth in the Deloitte Football Money League behind leaders Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich based on income from the 2012/13 season.

The money table has been compiled by Deloitte since 1997, and for the first eight years United were the biggest-earning club in the world only to be overtaken by first Real Madrid, then Barcelona. Now Bayern, thanks in part to the German side's remarkable treble-winning season, have moved ahead of the English champions.

Analysts at Deloitte, however, believe United will reclaim third spot from Bayern next year.

Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte, said: "United will have the Chevrolet deal plus other new commercial deals in their figures, and the new Premier League TV deal so we are confident they will be back in the top three."