Aston Villa's contract talks with Alan Hutton have been pushed back as the club digests the huge repercussions of missing out on promotion.
Villa boss Steve Bruce pledged before the Championship play-off final on May 26 that the club would hold talks with Hutton “next week”.
But Chinese owner Dr Tony Xia has since confirmed “severe” cut-backs are now due after the 1-0 Wembley loss to Fulham.
Villa's final parachute payment drops to just £15million this summer and a number of big-earning stars are set to follow John Terry out of the exit.
Bruce previously insisted out of contract defender Hutton,33, would be getting a new deal irrespective of which division Villa are in.
MirrorSport understands talks with Hutton and Villa's hierarchy were then scheduled for last Friday.
But the talks were postponed by the club and Hutton, who has interest from other clubs, is still in limbo waiting to resolve his fate.
It is a huge frustration for Hutton who was a star performer helping the club to Wembley as Bruce and team-mates publicly claimed he deserved a new deal.
His fate underlines the uncertainty at Villa, where there is a £40m black hole to be filled and Bruce's budget for next term could be halved.
Stars like Leicester-target Jack Grealish are now likely to be sold this summer with the club citing Financial Fair Play rules for their measures.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that back in February, Villa cashed in future transfer revenue due on Jordan Amavi from Marseille and Carlos Sanchez from Fiorentina in exchange for immediate money to help their cash flow.
In a document on Companies House dated February 2, 48 hours after the transfer window shut, the club sold on future income due on Amavi and Sanchez to the Australian Macquarie bank.
Villa sources insist the actions are normal practice to help cash flow but the unspecified sum received from Macquarie is likely to have been less than the two instalments of Euros 4million due July 15, 2018 and July 15, 2019 from Marseille for Amavi.