Jos Hooiveld has been signed permanently although the question is how ?
Its been announced that Jos Hooiveld has been signed permanently by Saints, despite the transfer window not being opened for another month, its stated on the official site that this is possible because Hooiveld is currently registered with the club, however this sounds somewhat baffling
A normal loan signing would be just that, with the parent club retaining registration of the player and therefore the ability to recall the player etc, however according to Saints Hooiveld is already registered with Saints which suggest his manner of signing is on different lines to the usual loan signings.
It suggests that Hooiveld was actually sold to Saints in September rather than loaned as his registration seems to have been transferred from Celtic to Saints back then as in a normal transfer, otherwise how could Saints sign him now, many loan signing done near deadline day are done with deals tied for a permanent move in January, this is because there hasnt been time to change the registration of a player from club to club so a loan move and agreement is the only way round the timescale problem.
But Saints seem to have found a way round this, but the only way they could actually sign the player now is if he was either transferred back in September or his contract with Celtic was effectively cancelled back then making him a free agent, as free agents on deadline day would be able to sign for another club at any time outside of the window.
Its all very strange and difficult to comprehend, but on the face of it it seems that he hasnt been on loan all along but actually registered with Saints and their player, this suggests that we have might actually have bought him in September but on a sort of sale or return basis, meaning that there was a clause in the agreement where we could effectively sell him back to Celtic within a certain time period, whatever the reason it sounds very strange as to why we didnt just announce that we had bought him in September.
Its all very baffling and although there could be some logic in it somewhere its hard to see why either a permanent transfer back then or a bog standard loan wouldnt have just as good.