Barcelona president Joan Laporta has confessed that La Liga’s Financial Fair Play rules would currently prevent them from making any signings in the January transfer window.

The club activated a number of controversial ‘levers’ during the summer, selling off club assets to raise significant sums of money and fund a hefty transfer spree, with salary cap issues and other restrictions still very much a problem for Barcelona.

Speaking to EFE, Laporta admitted that he is trying to find a way to work inside the rules but acknowledged that things are looking tough.

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“We had to activate some levers, which were economic operations that saved the club from ruin, and now the club is in economic recovery,” he began. “It is now healthy, with forecast revenue of €1,225m, a profit also budgeted for €274m.

“But despite that, according to the Financial Fair Play rules of the Spanish league, we cannot sign anyone in January.

“We, and some other La Liga clubs, are also trying to convince the league to be more flexible and allow us other types of interpretations that can help Barcelona strengthen even more.”

Laporta also hit out at the ‘inequalities’ of La Liga’s financial rules in relation to the other European leagues, insisting they all ‘should be harmonised’.

“It is more flexible in the Premier League than in Spain and this does not make much sense to me,” he argued.