Manchester City defender Kolo Toure says the club should cut the wages of his team-mates unless they start working harder.
Billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour has turned City into the world's richest club and spent more than £120m on new players this summer.
And Toure's brother Yaya is reported to be the top earner on £200,000 a week.
"There are some players here, I am not scared to say, who are not working hard enough for the team," said Toure.
The Eastlands club go into Sunday's match at Fulham in fifth place in the Premier League, but have rarely looked like a team destined to win the title this season.
City have the same number of points after 13 games as they did under former boss Mark Hughes last season, but have scored nine fewer goals.
And 29-year-old Toure, a big-money signing from Arsenal in 2009, believes his team-mates need to start justify their huge salaries.
He told the News of the World: "Some don't do enough in training but still expect to play. We all get big wages but some need to work harder.
"As players, we have the best job in the world and if the manager said 'you haven't worked hard enough, you will only get half your wages this week' it would make players fight harder.
"You cannot have a place in the team, even if you are an international, if you don't show what you can do in training.
"I'm a professional footballer and, to me, playing regularly is the most important thing. Money is secondary.
"Football is not just about money," he added. "It's about winning trophies ... and at the moment we are not consistent enough. We played well in beating Chelsea, but lost to Wolves and you cannot play like that."
Billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour has turned City into the world's richest club and spent more than £120m on new players this summer.
And Toure's brother Yaya is reported to be the top earner on £200,000 a week.
"There are some players here, I am not scared to say, who are not working hard enough for the team," said Toure.
The Eastlands club go into Sunday's match at Fulham in fifth place in the Premier League, but have rarely looked like a team destined to win the title this season.
City have the same number of points after 13 games as they did under former boss Mark Hughes last season, but have scored nine fewer goals.
And 29-year-old Toure, a big-money signing from Arsenal in 2009, believes his team-mates need to start justify their huge salaries.
He told the News of the World: "Some don't do enough in training but still expect to play. We all get big wages but some need to work harder.
"As players, we have the best job in the world and if the manager said 'you haven't worked hard enough, you will only get half your wages this week' it would make players fight harder.
"You cannot have a place in the team, even if you are an international, if you don't show what you can do in training.
"I'm a professional footballer and, to me, playing regularly is the most important thing. Money is secondary.
"Football is not just about money," he added. "It's about winning trophies ... and at the moment we are not consistent enough. We played well in beating Chelsea, but lost to Wolves and you cannot play like that."
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