Barcelona's director of football, Raul Sanllehi, said he was shocked by Chelsea's big spending on signing Spanish striker Fernando Torres from Liverpool earlier this month.
He said the Spanish champions "would not even consider" paying such a high fee.
The official was attending a meeting of Europe's top clubs, discussing new UEFA rules to curb transfer spending.
Barcelona spent just three-million euros (about four-million US dollars) on PSV Eindhoven midfielder Ibrahim Afellay, who was their only signing during January's trading window.
