Leicester were said to have been in the same position as Oxford, operating under a transfer embargo due to Squad Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) regulations.

An independent Club Financial Review Panel agreed that future Premier League distributions within the Foxes' SCMP calculation could not be used to increase their spending capacity.

As reported by the BBC, Russell Martin's Leicester had to offload players before they could bring new ones in.

As a result, Jeremy Monga left for Manchester City and Abdul Fatawu joined Ipswich Town.

It was only after Monga's departure on July 11 that City could sign Conor Chaplin and Alex McCarthy five days later.

Leicester City's Jeremy Monga left for Manchester City in the summer (Image: Mike Egerton)

Four of the starting XI on Tuesday signed on deadline day and 66 per cent of the players joined after the season started.

The embargo also meant that the club missed out on targets who were not willing to wait.

However, Chaplin, McCarthy and Wes Burns were among those who were prepared to hold off to join Martin.

Mark Harris opens the scoring against Leicester City (Image: Oxford United)

Including loans and academy exits, 34 players left the club in the summer and 16 arrived.

The news was reported by the BBC this week, revealing that the embargo disrupted the club's summer business.

The EFL can reportedly use discretion over whether or not to make the embargo status public.

Oxford faced the Foxes earlier this season, putting them to the sword in a 4-0 drubbing at the King Power Stadium.