Carlisle United's next league visitors Oldham - managed by ex-Blues boss Keith Curle - have been placed under a stricter transfer embargo.

They are now unable to make any signings at all after being found in breach of EFL regulation 51.2.3.

United's fellow strugglers, who visit Brunton Park next Saturday, were already operating under an embargo.

That, though, still allowed them to sign free agents - but the new measures have also closed that avenue.

Regulation 51.2.3 states that "if a club is in default of payments due to another club under a transfer or compensation agreement the club shall be subject to a registration embargo such that it shall not be permitted to register any player with that club without the prior written consent of the League until such time as the agreement is honoured."

The new details, published in the EFL's embargo reporting service, is the latest blow to hit the troubled club, where fans have been protesting against owner Abdallah Lemsagam.

Oldham sit a point and two places above Carlisle in 21st, with Saturday's game set to be a key encounter in United's bid to move away from the danger zone in League Two.

The Oldham Times report that the club have yet to comment, while fans’ group Push The Boundary said the new developments "make a mockery of the recent statement from the club that indicates a move towards stability."

They added: “Our squad is sub standard and our league status is precarious, so to have our ability to act in the transfer market impeded even further as a result of mismanagement only strengthens the argument that it is time for him [Lemsagam] to seek immediate alternatives to take the club off his hands and to give fans the stability that they have craved for years.”

Oldham recently told the BBC that Lemsagam has invested over £5m in the club and "taken every action possible to ensure the club remains in a financially healthy and solvent position."

They said the owner wants to work with fans' groups.