Barcelona have been warned they need to drastically reduce costs, before they can afford to sign Borussia Dortmund striker, Erling Haaland, Goal reports.
The Catalans are keen on the 21-year-old, who is also being monitored by Manchester City and Real Madrid.
However, they are still in a bad financial situation and have been given a negative spending limit by LaLiga.
A presentation from LaLiga on Monday, revealed Barca have a spending limit of -€144 million, down from a limit of €98m from last year.
Barcelona are the only club in the Spanish top-flight to be handed a negative ceiling. Real Madrid, on the other hand, have a maximum of €739m (£622m/$812m).
When asked about Barcelona’s hopes of signing Haaland, LaLiga director-general, Javier Gomez, said: “To make signings, Barcelona have to reduce the costs they have now or bring in more income. There’s no other way.
“Barcelona’s losses are greater than their capacity to bring in income. That’s why [the spending limit] is negative.”
He added: “Until [Barca] recover the net worth that they’ve lost, the only way they can spend is with the 1:4 rule, where if you save €10m, you can spend €2.5m.
“The only way for Barcelona to sign is by making savings on [player] contracts, until they generate income.”
