Barcelona legend Gerard Piqué has warned the club against deceiving supporters and encouraged the club to be open and transparent about their situation.
Barça are around €200 million ($217m) in excess of their LaLiga-imposed annual spending limit of €204m, which is preventing them from registering any potential new signings or contract renewals with the league.
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On the pitch they have fallen eight points behind LaLiga leaders Real Madrid and been knocked out of the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup since the turn of the year.
They remain in the Champions League, with the second leg of their round-of-16 tie against Napoli to be played next week, but Piqué is not convinced things look good in the short-term.
"The fans want honesty and transparency," the former Barça centre-back said on Ibai Llanos' Twitch channel.
"If the reality is tough, then say it. What you cannot do is sell smoke and mirrors and say we're going to win the Champions League if you then don't have the money to compete.
"I don't know the club's situation at the moment -- from what I can gather it doesn't seem that good -- but what the socios [members] value is being told the truth to their faces."
One major positive for Barça this season has been the emergence of talented youngsters like Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí and Fermín López from the academy.
Piqué, who retired at the end of 2022, believes supporters would understand if president Joan Laporta said the club were going to focus on homegrown players while getting back on their feet financially.
"If you say, 'look, we don't even have a penny to spend, so for the next two or three years we will turn to La Masia,' people will accept it," he said.
"The message should be that we have confidence in the academy; that there are good players with a lot of talent. Bring them through and try and compete for LaLiga.
"What you cannot do is say 'I am going to sign [Erling] Haaland,' which looks great, but how do you do it? I'm just using Haaland as an example, it's not to do with rumours. I could equally say [Kylian] Mbappé or whoever."