Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said the club cannot afford to replace the outgoing Sergio Aguero.
The incoming Premier League champions confirmed on Monday that Aguero, 32, will leave when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Several players have been linked with moves to City with Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Braut Haaland, 20, top of the list.
However, Guardiola feels the fees currently being quoted are too high.
Dortmund are reported to want at least £128m for Norway international Haaland, whose agent Mino Raiola has met with Barcelona and Real Madrid about a move.
Haaland's current deal expires in 2024, though it is thought to contain a release clause of £64m that can be activated next year.
"I don't know what is going to happen but at these prices we are not going to buy any striker," he said.
"It's impossible. We cannot afford it. All the clubs are struggling financially, us as well.
"Today there is more chance we will not buy a striker next season."
Aguero, who signed from Atletico Madrid in 2011, is City's record goalscorer, with 257 goals in 384 appearances for the club.
He famously scored the injury-time winner against QPR in 2012 which clinched the club's first English title in 44 years.
Since that famous night at the Etihad, City have won three more Premier League titles, one FA Cup and five League Cups.