Zhang Shuguang, general manager of Chinese premier league club Liaoning, said that Chinese football would be "in danger" without introducing a wage cap to players.

Zhang, who has a doctor's degree in law, attributed Chinese national team's 6-0 humiliating defeat to Barcelona last week to a failed professional football system.

"The system should take the responsibility for the disastrous defeat," he said. "We have invested too much money in football but a lot of money went to the players' pockets."

He said that the development of Chinese football is not balanced.

"Clubs in north China have nurtured many talents only to be bought by the richer clubs in south China," he told Tuesday's Beijing Evening News.

Zhang's cash-strapped Liaoning has been forced to sell a number of star players including Chinese international striker Zhang Yuning and former China forward Li Jinyu.

"A wage cap is necessary," Zhang said. "I think every player can not be paid more than 1.2 million yuan (about 150,000 US dollars) a year."

The Chinese premier league, the country's top-flight football, largely depends on sponsors instead of television money like England's premier league.

"There's no reason for the players to be paid millions of yuan every year," he said.

Source: Xinhua