LaLiga president Javier Tebas has stated that Barcelona will not be able to sign any players in the upcoming transfer window.
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According to the Spanish executive, unless the Blaugrana are able to raise £178 million (R3.8 billion) in player sales, the Catalan outfit will effectively be banned from the next transfer window.
The club's dire financial situation has been well-documented in recent years, but after a window in which the likes of Robert Lewandowski arrived at the Camp Nou, it seemed things were returning to normal for the Blaugrana.
Early exits from both the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, however, means that the Spanish outfit's big spending has landed them in more hot water.
With the five-time European champions pulled several "economic levers" in order to afford the outlay on the likes of Lewandowski, Jules Kounde and Raphinha ahead of this campaign, Tebas has now insisted that the LaLiga log leaders will not be able to acquire any players until they can generate the aforementioned £178 million.
"As of today, Barcelona doesn't have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window," the Spanish top-flight chief said at the Financial Times' Business of Football summit, as per the Daily Mail.
"Barcelona has been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on LaLiga and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players.
"They sold off £620m (€700m) in TV rights and tried to find different ways to solve the situation but they won't be able to do that next season. We have strict economic controls.
"At the end of each window, we tell all the clubs in LaLiga what they can spend.
"They have to reduce their investment in players and we have encouraged them to sell players because, for every amount they raise in sales, they can spend 40% of that."
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