ARJAN DE ZEEUW, the Wigan Athletic captain, has echoed the thoughts of his club chairman by becoming the first top-flight footballer to call for a salary cap to be introduced in the Barclays Premiership.

Dave Whelan, Wigan’s outspoken owner-chairman, has been pressing for a ceiling on players’ wages to prevent the Premiership from becoming a bore, but De Zeeuw’s claims will carry greater resonance.

The veteran defender believes that Chelsea’s buying power needs to be curbed in the interests of the long-term health of the competition and, like Whelan, he is worried that people may start to turn their back on the game if the London club maintain their stranglehold at the top of the Premiership in the years to come.

De Zeeuw’s comments come days after Ramón Calderón, the Real Madrid president, claimed that Chelsea’s spending power has led to over-inflated transfer fees.

“Things appear to be growing out of proportion just now because Chelsea can go out and buy anyone they fancy,” the 36-year-old Dutchman, who admits that this may be his last season in the Premiership, said. “I don’t know if clubs would agree to a salary cap — Chelsea probably wouldn’t — but you have to be careful that the title doesn’t become a one-horse race every year.

“Manchester United, who we play next, look as if they are the team to challenge Chelsea this season, but I am not sure they can push them all the way.”

Chelsea’s annual players’ wage bill of more than £120 million is about 12 times that of Wigan.

Whelan thinks that Chelsea will “kill” the Premiership if they successfully defend the league title for the next four or five seasons and wants a salary cap of about £30 million introduced. For a 25-man squad, that would equate to an average weekly wage of a shade more than £23,000 a player.

Whelan has also reiterated his plea for any manager or agent found guilty of taking an illegal payment in a transfer deal to be banned from working in the game for life. He also believes that guilty parties should face police prosecution.

John Filan, the Wigan goalkeeper, has joined Doncaster Rovers on a month’s loan. Filan has fallen down the pecking order after the arrival at the JJB Stadium of Chris Kirkland, the England goalkeeper, on loan from Liverpool.

The Australian, who was thrust straight into action for Doncaster against Oldham Athletic last night, is out of contract at the end of the season.