FIFA has prohibited the ownership of players by third party organisations. The ban is in effect immediately, and was spurred mostly by the massive controversy surrounding the ownership of Carlos Tevez by MSI.

The first incident in this case was the validity of the contract on which he was playing at West Ham, and it began to be investigated late into last season. West Ham United were adjudged to have violated Premier League laws, and were fined a record £5.5 million, but were not docked any points, and Tevez did not serve any suspension.

He was fantastic in the latter half of the season, and almost single-handedly saved the Hammers from relegation. Their safety came at the expense of that of Sheffield United, who were relegated, and responded almost immediately with legal action against the Premier League and West Ham. They called on FIFA and Blatter to intervene, but ultimately their case was dismissed.

The whole situation then intensified towards the end of the summer, with Manchester United's attempts to sign Tevez. Kia Joorabchian, the owner of MSI was claiming ownership of the player, West Ham were too, United were trying to negotiate with both parties, and Sheffield United were watching carefully. Ultimately it emerged that Joorabchian's MSI were the "rightful" owners, but since the league would not allow money to be exchanged between clubs and third parties, a complicated arrangement was finally worked out whereby Tevez signed for United, with MSI and West Ham both receiving compensation, and although there were no official transfer fees, it was indeed a very, very sketchy transfer agreement.

Sheffield United meanwhile re-ignited the fires, albeit in vain, because Joorabchian's part in the whole transfer agreement had proved that Tevez's presence at West Ham the previous season was in breach of Premiership rules.

The whole affair was a huge media circus, and so FIFA have finally acted to try and ban the third party ownership of players. MSI had been a major player in this regard - buying over Brazilian giants Corinthians and signing top players such as Tevez, Javier Mascherano, and Carlos Alberto. Mascherano had in fact joined West Ham along with Tevez, but had been signed by Liverpool in January in an arrangement where a loan/payment arrangement was made with MSI and West Ham. Technically, this was equally as controversial as Manchester United's signing of Tevez, but since Mascherano had been in the reserves, and not playing well, nobody paid much attention or took much objection to this transfer.

MSI had all long intended to make Corinthians into a sort of shop window/clearing house for South America's top talent. Their idea was to buy top players in the region, and negotiate their sales, or partial sales to top European clubs. However, their affairs fell apart in Brazil as well - Corinthians' results were terrible, they lost the fans support, the infrastructure at the club had started to fall apart, and eventual there were also warrants issued for the arrests of Joorabchian and fellow investor Berezutsky by the Brazilian police over financial fraud issues.

On paper, it looks as if FIFA have made a decision to stamp this out, but let's see how strictly they enforce this. Consortiums in Eastern Europe have been running rackets in the trafficking of young African footballers, and in poor countries it will be very difficult to stop this. Additionally, as in the case of Leeds United's purchase of Mark Viduka, clubs can still use third-party investment companies to fund the purchase of players, with the player's registration acting as collateral. It remains to be seen whether this too will be legislated against, or whether it will continue to exist as a loophole.

Well... not madness per se, but again a great example of how British players just seem to cost so much more than they need to.

Dave Nugent has signed for Portsmouth for a fee of  just over £6 million. He joins from Preston North End, where he has played well enough to earn an England cap (and score a goal too).

The former Bury youngster is only 22, and has a bright future ahead of him, but the fee is still on the higher side, considering that he has no Premiership experience and that his record of 33 goals in 96 games for PNE is hardly prolific.

I think Nugent has chosen well with Portsmouth though. He could have signed for Sunderland, but at Pompey he doesn't have to have the pressure of relegation and expectation, and he's also got an experienced manager who knows how to get the best from his players. He'll have better players around him as well, and be in a settled team that is financially able.

John Utaka also signs for Portsmouth from Rennes. The fee is undisclosed, but is probably around the £3-4 million mark. This is a transfer that has been going on for ages, and Utaka let the media know a while ago that he was looking forward to joining his compatriot Kanu at Portsmouth.

Utaka is a good, but inconsistent player; very talented, but seemingly very raw at times. He's 24, and Redknapp will need to work on him a bit. Still, he's tall, strong, fast, and an exciting dribbler. He's skillful, although a hit-and-miss finisher, and is also not too bad in the air. This is going to be an exciting signing for Pompey fans, and it's nice that they have options in attack now.

Hopefully you cringed at that photo, I know I did. Well gimpy, chavvy, wannabe enfant terrible Craig "Bellers" Bellamy has signed for West Ham for a reported fee of £8 million. EIGHT! Somehow... Liverpool managed to sell Bellamy on for a profit. A player who signed for £6 million, scored just 7 league goals in 27 games, got arrested for hitting a girl in a nightclub, and hit a teammate with a golf club, has somehow been sold on for a profit. Lovely!

Bellamy is a serious talent - quick, tricky, left-footed and with a powerful shot, but he has the personality of a menstruating Satan. He first arrived in the Premiership at Coventry, as a replacement for the Inter-bound Robbie Keane. Since then, he's gone to Newcastle, Celtic, Blackburn, Liverpool, and now West Ham all in the space of 6 years (giving Anelka a run for his money). Anyways, good luck to West Ham, Eggert Magnusson and "Bellers".

Jason Koumas, has signed for Wigan for £5.3 million. This probably tops the list of ridiculously priced transfers, and furthermore the present Wigan manager Chris Hutchings has one of the worst transfer records ever. When Jewell left Bradford, it was Hutchings who stepped up from Assistant to Manager, and spent about £10 million (that Bradford couldn't afford) on awful players, got them relegated (and was sacked), and they are suffering in League One now. Wigan are a stronger side than that, and chairman Dave Whelan has money, but spending this much money on Koumas is wild.

Now don't get me wrong, Koumas is a talented guy, as he kid he was very highly rated and in West Brom's first season in the Premiership he had some great moments. He then went through a huge slump, and was out of favour and on-loan at Cardiff. But last year at the Baggies he had a great season, helping them to the playoffs, and was named the Championship player of the year. But he's 27 now, and has only really had ONE season at the top of his game, and that too in the Championship.