OXFORD United will not be making big money signings in a bid to replace Kemar Roofe this summer, according to head coach Michael Appleton.

The star forward moved to Leeds United yesterday for a club record fee understood to be £3m.

While United's share will be less than £2m due to a sell-on clause held by Roofe's former club West Bromwich Albion, the windfall is still significant at League One level.

But Appleton is adamant the club will use the cash injection wisely and has no intention of disrupting the squad's dynamic by bringing in a couple of expensive additions.

He said: "We’re not a club who are going to start splashing cash here, there and everywhere, because fundamentally over a period of time it doesn’t work.

"It might work for a short period, but we’ve created such a culture here that we wouldn’t want to ruin that by making a couple of stupid decisions and panicking.

"We’ll be cleverer than that."

He added: "The reality is it will be very difficult to replace Kemar Roofe because those types of players don’t really become available at our level.

"But what we can do is certainly try to replace him as best as we possibly can with players we feel have the ability to help us get out of this division."

While the U's may not spend big on fees, Appleton did admit the Roofe money would allow him to upgrade the level of his targets.

He said: "I’ll get the opportunity to bring two or three players in because from a numbers point of view we need to do that anyway.

"But it might have been some young players on loan who were half a risk, whereas now I might be able to bring players in who are less of a risk and have a bit more quality."

He added: "We have to make sure we’re clever enough to find players who are going to score goals, but there are still some good players out there.

"A lot will become available later in the window when they know they’re not really going to be part of people’s plans."

Appleton admitted there were mixed feelings over Roofe's exit.

While he was disappointed to lose such a key player, there was also pride in the way the 23-year-old had developed in his 18 months at the club.

And the U's boss hopes it is a model other promising youngsters will follow in at United in the medium term.

He said: "We’ll bring young players in who feel they need an opportunity to express themselves and spread their wings.

"Kemar I’m hoping will be the first of many, albeit not now, a little later on.

"We’ll bring other young players, watch them develop then shake their hand and wish them all the best once they’ve brought something to Oxford United."