Christian Atsu's coach at English side Bournemouth insists he will not break the bank or jeopardise the club's financial future in pursuit of new players.
Eddie Howe was responding after a national newspaper claimed Cherries were on the verge of tabling a £14million bid for QPR's former Poole Town striker Charlie Austin.
Manager Howe described the story as "total fabrication" and said he was keen to set the record straight in an attempt to prevent the speculation "running out of control".
Howe also said Cherries would keep a tight rein on wages and dismissed as "inaccurate" another media report suggesting new recruit Sylvain Distin was earning £40,000 a week.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Echo, Howe said: "The reason I wish to comment on this kind of speculation is to try to put things back into perspective.
"We are not in the market for players costing £14m and the story was inaccurate. As much as I am an admirer of Charlie Austin, he is out of our reach financially.
"We are not paying anyone £40,000 a week either and that story was also unhelpful. I want our supporters to understand that the majority of things they read in the press are exaggerated and we need to bring some reality to the situation.
"We are indebted to the financial backing of owner Max Demin who continues to be very supportive to us.
"We will endeavour to recruit wisely with the strategy we implemented to get the club to the Premier League but we are always working with the future of the club in mind. The figures are not reflective of what we are doing or what we are trying to do.
"There is a delicate balance because we have to try to be competitive while making sure we are not spending more than we can afford.
"While we have spent money on players this summer, we have also kept the wages stable. We have a strict wage structure in place and implemented this with Neill Blake and Max Demin when we returned to the club.
"We are going to continue to be consistent with our wages in the Premier League. That is why established Premier League players are well out of our reach financially.
"It has never been our philosophy to sign players on big salaries. We have, in the main, signed players with potential and have then worked hard to develop their talent in the hope they serve the club well over a number of years."
Howe has already stated he hopes to make further additions to his squad following the permanent arrivals of Artur Boruc, Adam Federici, Joshua King, Tyrone Mings and Distin together with the loan signing of Chelsea's Christian Atsu.