Earlier this week, Sydney FC CEO Edwin Lugt reportedly said there was ''no justification'' for players to be remunerated so strongly when clubs are "facing financial ruin”.

That remuneration – according to the players’ union Professional Footballers Australia – is around $135,000 for an annual A-League salary.

This compares favourably to the MLS, for instance, which is around A$45,000 less (not including “designated” players).

''Nobody can explain to me why that should be the case. Do we have better players? I don't think so. There's no justification for average players here earning above-average wages,” Lugt told the Sydney Morning Herald’s Sebastian Hassett.

To further demonstrate his point Lugt - a one-time chief executive of the Dutch second-tier Eerste Divisie - added that wages in that league were half that of Australia’s elite competition.

“And we're talking about a league that is a breeding ground for some of the world's top talent,” he said.

However, Milicevic has dismissed such comments as hypocritical saying Sydney FC need to take a look at their own salary history when commenting about wages.

 “When they won the title they had the biggest budget [in the A-League] and wage bill and weren’t complaining,” he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“Now they’re struggling, and they’re spending too much money and playing like shit, they want to change it.

“You’ve got A-League clubs complaining about being financially constrained – and it’s funny that Sydney’s one of them."