Reading head coach Ruben Selles has said the club will become “unsustainable” if uncertainty over its ownership is not resolved soon.
The Royals were hit with a fresh transfer embargo by the English Football League (EFL) on Monday.
It came on the same day Reading entered into a new period of exclusivity with an unnamed buyer less than one month after former Wycombe Wanderers owner Rob Couhig’s attempted takeover fell through.
Selles said he is “trying to separate” himself from the off-field issues and “focus on football”, but that it is “very challenging”.
“Not only for me, for everyone working at the club it is really difficult, especially after the Rob Couhig takeover,” Selles told BBC Radio Berkshire.
“The uncertainty around it is just massive because now we are opening a new process.
“We’ve got the exclusivity now. I don’t know anything about that process right now. I think that’s the main problem.”
Reading said the latest embargo was because of “the late filing of financial accounts to Companies House, and relates to the 2022-23 accounting period”.
The club believes it will be lifted “at the earliest opportunity” once the overdue accounts are submitted, but it could impact business in the January transfer window if it cannot be finalised in time.
“Everyone is doing an amazing job,” added Selles, who has been in charge since July 2023.
“The players are fighting for each other, fighting for the club and the staff are doing the same.
“But there is going to be one point when the club cannot sustain itself anymore because we cannot get players.
“We have a transfer embargo again, and at some point it’s not going to be sustainable.”
Reading’s previous transfer ban was lifted in August 2023 after they were relegated from the Championship.
The club has been fined, had points deducted and faced fan protests throughout Chinese owner Dai Yongge’s reign.
Yongge put Reading up for sale after supporters invaded the pitch in January, forcing a game against Port Vale to be abandoned.
A long period of exclusivity was in place while American lawyer and businessman Couhig negotiated with Yongge before the deal collapsed.
Reading are 16th in League One and host Crawley Town next weekend following the international break.