FOOTBALL might not be far away from its first £1million-a-week player, according to Burnley boss Sean Dyche.

Alexis Sanchez will become the Premier League's highest paid player at Manchester United on a salary reported to be in excess of £350,000 a week.

The four-and-a-half year contract at Old Trafford for the 29-year-old forward is the latest leap taken forward by Premier League clubs as they continue to increase salaries and transfer fees.

But they are playing catch up when it comes to the finances in China, with players on more than £500,000 a week in their Super League, and Dyche believes the days when a player earns £1millon-a-week could be around the corner.

“If we just said the stories are true..it is true in China, was it Hulk or Tevez who was earning £650,000-a-week? So we think that’s a fact, so if someone is earning £650,000 now, a new TV deal comes out and blows the last one out of the water, then that can only add to the resource base of a club," the Clarets chief said.

“Then you add into that the ownership of a club, alongside these huge amounts of money, then, if you want the best of the best, you have to go and get it. PSG decided they wanted Neymar and that was it, they got Neymar. There’s no debate about it, we’re going to get him whatever it takes.

“There seems to be a lot of people saying, ‘yeah, OK we’ll do that’ and they have their reasons. That’s the way I see it.

“Someone once told me a story and it’s not fair to say which player it was. But he signed a big deal, it was back in the day, and it was paid back in seven months on shirt sales alone. Worldwide shirt sales on their own paid the whole deal back.”

As a player the highest fee Dyche commanded was £375,000 when he moved from Chesterfield to Bristol City.

The sums floating around the game now are eye-watering, but Dyche insists it isn't as black and white as being either good or bad for football.

“I don’t think it’s either. I think the game has got to move forward," he said.

"The power in the game in the sense of these worldwide figures and TV exposure has created that.

“It’s become a major, major business and I don’t think it’s going to stop.

“It will be interesting to see what the next TV deal does because I think it will go up. I’ll be amazed if it doesn’t go up.”