Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Blackburn Hit by Transfer Embargo by Football League

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A trio of the Championship's most high-profile clubs have been banned from signing players for the remainder of the current campaign after falling foul of Financial Fair Play Regulations.

Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers are the three teams in question; the news was confirmed on Twitter by Dan Roan of BBC Sport:

The Football League released its own statement confirming the “FFP embargo,” which forbids any of the aforementioned sides from taking part in any incoming transfer activity in the January window and for the rest of the season. 

The statement notes that after an investigation of their respective FFP submissions, all of the clubs in question exceeded the maximum deviation amount of £8 million during the 2013/14 season.

In addition to Leeds, Forest and Blackburn, the Football League has also confirmed there are other clubs that they are in discussions regarding their submissions and they could potentially lead to comparable sanctions.

The sanctions are more bad news for Leeds.Clint Hughes/Getty Images

The news represents a major blow to the domestic hopes of each team, who will have surely harboured ambitions of adding some bodies to their squads in the midseason window and putting a strong run together in the second half of the campaign.

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But it will be particularly frustrating for Leeds, who are enduring a turbulent time of things at the moment after their owner Massimo Cellino was banned from owning the club by the Football League, per Ben Jeffries of the Express.