Barcelona director of football Deco has said it will be tough for the Spanish champions to strengthen in January due to their financial situation.

Barça are in excess of their LaLiga-imposed spending limit of €270 million ($285m) for the season, which means they are only allowed to spend around 50% of any money they generate or save.

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ESPN have previously revealed that Xavi Hernandez would like to add another defensive midfielder to his squad to have every position doubled up, but that is unlikely to happen until next summer.

“It will be difficult to sign anyone in January,” Deco said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo published on Tuesday.

“We are always ready in case an opportunity presents itself, but I don’t think it will be possible.”

Barça have already agreed a deal with Athletico Paranaense to sign Vitor Roque, with Xavi keen to bring the young Brazilian striker to Europe in January.

However, even that deal is not certain to happen when the mid-season transfer window opens in just over two months.

“It doesn’t solely depend on the efforts of the club,” Deco added. “There is a part that does, but there is also a part that doesn’t.

“Vitor is a player we have signed for the present and the future. We really believe in him, but we will have to see what we can do.

“We have to wait and see how we can manage things. If it’s not now, it will be in July.”

With January signings unlikely, ESPN explained last week that planning is already underway for next season with Barça hopeful of having more margin to manoeuvre by the summer.

A deep midfielder to compete with Oriol Romeu and two full-backs, with Marcos Alonso and Sergi Roberto both out of contract in 2024, are some of the positions the Catalan club are looking to reinforce.

Meanwhile, after tying down Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde to new deals, Deco will turn his attention to negotiating new terms with Frenkie de Jong, among others, next.

“I have sent messages to the agents that I didn’t know to introduce myself, which was the case with Frenkie’s [agents], but we haven’t spoken about the renewal yet,” Deco said.

“We like Frenkie a lot. He is the at the perfect age [26] for a footballer and he’s playing at a really good level.

“Frenkie is happy here and enjoying his football. It’s always the player who decides [their future]. He is under contract until 2026 and we want him to stay for many more years.”

Barça have made an unbeaten start to the season in LaLiga and the Champions League, although they have a spate of injuries to deal with when domestic football returns this weekend.

Pedri, Raphinha, de Jong, Robert Lewandowski, Jules Koundé, Yamal and Balde are all fitness doubts ahead of home games against Athletic Club, Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Madrid.