Portsmouth officials stated yesterday that the wages for December - believed to be £1.8million - would be paid today but have told the Professional Footballers' Association a further delay has now arisen.

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said the club were hopeful of paying the players tomorrow.

Taylor told Press Association Sport: "We were expecting the players to be paid today but that has not happened. We have been told by the club that they are hopeful of paying them tomorrow."

The club told the PFA the latest delay was due to paperwork needing to be completed after a short-term loan was negotiated to cover the shortfall.

It is the third time this season the club have missed a payment date.

In a further blow for the club, the Premier League have told Portsmouth they will not be able to re-register Jamie O'Hara as a loan signing unless the transfer embargo is lifted, and there is virtually no chance of that happening during this transfer window.

The Tottenham midfielder's deal runs out on January 15 but Spurs had indicated they were happy to let him stay at Pompey.

A Premier League spokesman said: "If the registration embargo is still in place Portsmouth will not be able to re-register him."

Meanwhile, Daniel Azougy, the lawyer taken on by Portsmouth to restructure their debts, has said the club is in "a mess".

Azougy told the Guardian: "First of all I hope we are going to pay the players' salaries as promised. But nobody knows how much [the club] is a mess. When people and the fans of Portsmouth know how big they will appreciate what we trying to do."

Former owner Alexandre Gaydamak says he is owed almost £30million and there is also a winding-up petition from HM Revenue and Customs.

Gaydamak, who sold the club to Sulaiman al-Fahim in August before it was sold on again to Ali Al Faraj, insists he is not to blame for the crisis.

Gaydamak told www.fansonline.net: "It is my opinion that they [the debts] were fully serviceable and no worse of better than any other club in the context of the Premier League. In fact, the debt ratio at Portsmouth was probably one of the lowest.

"The people who tried to buy the club were very persistent. They tried to buy it in the summer and I decided not to sell to them because I could not be sure who was behind them and I could not be sure of the source of their money.

"These chaps knew what they were getting. They must have realised there is a wage bill and the tax bill to meet every month. There are no surprises."

Gaydamak is owed £28million by Pompey but claims he has written off a further £20million.

He added: "I made around £50million in shareholder and directors loans to the club during my time.

"After Sulaiman had completed the due diligence, we sat down with his advisors and it was agreed to sell the club for £1 with me continuing to guarantee the now famous £2.5million debt to Barclays and leaving loans totalling £28million of which £9million is due for repayment this month and the rest in 2012. This was our contractual agreement, but in effect I had written off around £20million of the loans I made."