Soccer: UEFA keen to discuss salary cap in wake of Campbell demands

Sol Campbell’s wage demands today prompted UEFA to highlight the fact that they are keen to open a debate about the merits of introducing some form of salary cap for players in a bid to prevent football’s bubble bursting.

Mike Lee, communications director for European football’s governing body, said UEFA are still keen to open such a debate, but stressed the fact that there would be great difficulty in implementing such a scheme.

England defender Campbell told Tottenham they would need to pay him £130,000 a week if they were going to keep him, but his demands were rejected and he is now seeking a move to one of Europe’s top clubs.

UEFA are not suggesting capping the salaries of individual players. But one of the main options which would be discussed is the possibility of a squad salary cap, where each club’s total wage bill would have a ceiling perhaps linked to revenues and would be a certain percentage of total revenue.

That means a player like Campbell could still be paid £130,000 a week, as long as there were enough players in the squad at the lower end of the pay scale.

The issue of salary capping has already been raised by a UEFA Task Force looking into the licensing of clubs, amid concern of a meltdown in the sport caused by players’ salaries continuing to rise.

A recent report into England’s Premier League clubs showed players’ wages had risen by an average of 20% in the Premiership last year.

Lee said: ‘‘We recognise that spiralling wages are making life difficult for many clubs, so football may benefit from a debate about the issue of salary capping.

‘‘There is a need for a debate within European football and UEFA has indicated a willingness to start and sponsor that debate.

‘‘That has already provoked both positive and negative reactions but that’s what a debate is about.

‘‘Some of the major clubs in Europe have been very positive about holding a debate, but we are not naive and we recognise the difficulties in implementing salary capping.

‘‘It could only work if there was total agreement between clubs, and that may prove difficult.

‘‘The recent financial reports have told us the game cannot turn its back on the issue, and people like Bayern Munich vice-president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge think there is a value in taking forward a more wide-ranging discussion on salary caps.

‘‘It can take various forms but some sort of squad salary cap may be the most sensible option.’’

Squad salary caps operate in some sports in the USA, notably in NBA basketball, though players can still earn huge sums.

UEFA are aware that there could be legal implications, and certainly in Britain any attempt to reinstate a maximum wage on individual players would be virtually impossible since its abolition in the early 1960s.

Lee added: ‘‘Unless we are alive and alert to these issues then inevitably in due course the bubble will burst.

‘‘The consequences of that for a large number of professional clubs could be severe, not necessarily for the top clubs but for many other parts of the professional game.’’

Meanwhile former Spurs chairman Alan Sugar had accused Campbell of staging a ‘‘soap opera’’ over his contract negotiations at the club.

Sugar, who handed control of the club over to new owners ENIC earlier this year, said talks had been held with the centre-half and his agent, Sky Andrew, at various stages since 1999 in a bid to keep him at White Hart Lane.

‘‘You could never pin either of them down to get a clear answer but the ramification of losing such a good player was unthinkable,’’ he said.

Sugar also revealed he turned down an offer of £15m for Campbell from Manchester United two years ago.