How can clubs sign players outside of the transfer window?

Question

How can clubs sign players outside of the transfer window? Both Liverpool and Portsmouth signed players today, but the window closed on Monday.

Answer 1

There are two ways in which clubs can sign players outside of the window, and the Liverpool and Portsmouth examples are good ones to illustrate this. Weirdly, they both include the Belgian club Standard Liege.

Liverpool have signed Serbian striker Milan Jovanovic on a pre-contract agreement, meaning that he will join the Reds for free when his Liege contract expires in the summer. He won't play for Liverpool until next season. Portsmouth have signed Portuguese defender Ricardo Rocha on a free transfer today, but he is allowed to play for them this season because he was a free agent after he cancellend his contract with Standard Liege. He effectively hasn't moved from a club, and so the rules of the window don't apply.