Javier Mascherano

I must confess to being a little confused about the controversy surrounding Mascherano's moves this season. Let's take the easy one first, the transfer from West Ham to Liverpool. FIFA rules apparently forbid a player from playing competitive games for more than two clubs in a season (where a season runs from July to June). The first club, Brazilian side Corinthians - being from South America - have a different season, so FIFA decided it wasn't a problem.

Now, the first one is more confusing. It seems* that Mascherano (and his compatriot Carlos Tevez) had registrations held not by West Ham but by Media Sports Investment, who were involved in a take-over bid for the Hammers at the time. Indeed, this third-party involvement was one of the reasons behind the delay in the Premier League allowing the second transfer to go through.

I can see there's something dubious about a player's registration not being held by a club, but I'd be grateful if anyone could put my uneasy feeling into words and maybe explain what's going on there.

* i.e., Wikipedia says.