The full-frontal shot is the LA Galaxy star's first US advert for the Italian underwear giant, with more planned for the future.

Becks has signed a three-year deal, rumured to be worth about $20 million and his images will be plastered on billboards in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, London, Milan, Rome, Paris and Tokyo.

The 32-year-old was an obvious choice for Armani.

The ad will be used to boost Beckham's US fan base when the ad debuts in a special gatefold in the February edition of Vanity Fair USA.

Currently the football icon also has multi-million pound deals with with Adidas, Pepsi, Motorola and perfume maker Coty.