Derby supremo Adam Pearson believes the growing influx of overseas investment could lead to a salary cap for Premiership players. According to Deloitte the average salary in the Premiership is now £1.1m a year. They predict that it is only a matter of time before the first player earns £200,000 a week. The Derby chief said, 'Wages have reached a limit. It's not really possible to go any higher without clubs getting into difficulty. There's a general consensus among principals at clubs that something has to happen. There are new owners, and overseas owners particularly, who cannot understand why you have to put wages at a level you can't afford. There's a growing strength of feeling that perhaps the finance should be redirected back into the infrastructure or back into the facilities.' Pearson suggested that wages should be capped at 60 per cent of turnover.
Bottom club Derby have struggled in the Premiership and a salary cap would narrow the gap between them and the top teams. Pearson admitted, 'It's difficult for the biggest clubs to agree with that because they operate from a position of huge power.' The reason that clubs pay very high wages is to attract top class talent for themselves and prevent it from going elsewhere. Salary caps are always subject to evasion. They would also be open to legal challenge under competition law.
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