FC Barcelona have been hit with a huge financial setback that could affect player registrations for the upcoming season according to Esport3.

The Catalan TV channel has reported that the German fund which was supposed to put up €65 million ($72.2 million) for a 16% stake in Barca Studios has backed out of the deal.

Barca agreed to sell the stake this summer to a German venture capital group whose money was included in the feasibility plan the club had to present to La Liga to demonstrate they could sign and register new players.

The planned sale was described as the last 'economic lever' by El Confidencial, after Barca pulled a series of them in 2022 to bring in the likes of Raphinha, Jules Kounde and Robert Lewandowski.

President Joan Laporta offloaded a portion of future televisions rights revenue to American investment firm Sixth Street, and then sold two separate stakes of 24.5% in Barca Studios to Socios and Orpheus Media ahead of the 2022/2023 campaign.

Socios and Orpheus Media both agreed to hand over €100 million ($110.6 million) for their percentages in the media arm.

And while at least €10 million ($11 million) was paid initially, the two entities delayed €30 million ($33 million) payments due to be made in June as reported by COPE.

This left Barca with a €60 million ($66.8 million) hole in their accounts complicating the registration of fresh contracts penned by first team stars Gavi, Ronald Araujo, Inaki Pena, Marcos Alonso and Sergi Roberto and three new acquisitions in Ilkay Gundogan, Inigo Martinez and Oriol Romeu.

While ruling out a big player sale it was previously thought necessary to balance the books, Laporta's vice president Rafa Yuste promised "good news very soon" regarding the registrations.

"We are working on it," he said in an interview conducted with SPORT. "We presented a viability plan to the league, we are working on it and I think that soon we will be able to announce that there will be no problem for the top players to be registered.

"There will be good news very soon," Yuste added.

Yet while Mundo Deportivo was another outlet to report on the deal being finalized in recent days, Yuste might have to eat his words.

The Germans look to have had cold feet, which has left Laporta wanting to personally resolve the situation "which is very urgent for the club" according to Esport3.

The registrations need to be wrapped up by August 13 when Barca begin the defense of their La Liga crown at Getafe. And as things stand, a number of those players listed above won't be able to play any part in the fixture.