Wolfsburg will not invest heavily in the upcoming transfer window since "financial fair play simply does not allow it," according to the club's sporting executive Klaus Allofs.
Wolfsburg rounded off a successful domestic season by winning the DFB Pokal final against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, having already finished second in the Bundesliga behind Bayern Munich.
They have qualified for next season's Champions League and many believe that this will lead to more big-money signings, following the arrivals of Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Schurrle and Luiz Gustavo in recent years.
This, however, will not be the case, according to Allofs, who cited UEFA's financial fair play (FFP) regulations as the main reason the club will not invest heavily this summer.
Earlier this year, UEFA cleared Wolfsburg of a breach of FFP regulations after the club had come under scrutiny because of funding from owners Volkswagen.
"Our stance has not changed," Allofs told Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung. "We hope that we continue to add good players, but transfers will not be in tune of the De Bruyne or Gustavo deals. Financial fair play simply does not allow it.
"We have got strict limits, and our options are exhausted. We went at a high pace, and we need to make smaller and safer steps."
The 58-year-old also believes that Wolfsburg are still far off from competing with Bayern in financial terms.
"Those who believe we will be at eye level with Bayern in the next few years have to know that we are still far away from Bayern on a financial level," he said. "Borussia Dortmund also have higher labour costs than Wolfsburg, Bayern nearly have double the cost."
On Monday, kicker reported that Bayern will not make a move for De Bruyne after accepting Volkswagen chief and member of their own supervisory board Dr. Martin Winterkorn's wish that the Belgium international should stay at Wolfsburg for at least one more year.
"That's adventurous," Allofs said. "When I read those sort of reports I also ask myself whether it really makes sense to enlighten the people. Most of the time it doesn't."