Sampdoria announced the signing of Yann Karamoh on 5 September 2026: a contract until 30 June 2027, with a conditional option until 30 June 2028. The Italian transfer window had closed four days earlier, at 20:00 on 1 September. That a club can still sign a free agent after the gong is something we covered yesterday, writing about Ricardo Rodríguez and Torino. What was left out yesterday, and what this signing brings into focus, is that there is not one door: there are two, they close on different dates, and one of them has a cap.
The deal at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Player | Yann Dorgelès Isaac Karamoh, 28, born in Abidjan on 8 July 1998 |
| Position | Wide forward, 1.85 m, naturally right-footed |
| From | Free agent, last club FC Porto |
| To | U.C. Sampdoria, Serie B |
| Contract | Until 30 June 2027, conditional option until 30 June 2028 |
| Fee | None: player out of contract, nothing owed to Porto |
| Date of statement | 5 September 2026 |
Two doors, and why they are not the same
The document that governs this is circular 235/A, published by the Italian FA on 27 May 2026, setting registration terms for the 2026/27 season for clubs in Serie A, B and C. Point 5 splits professionals without a contract into two categories and treats them differently.
The first covers players whose previous deal expired on or before 30 June 2026, or who were already free agents on that date. Their registration window runs from 1 July 2026 to 31 March 2027: nine months, with no numerical cap written anywhere. This is not an exception wrung out of the rulebook, it is an ordinary window that simply lasts far longer than the transfer window.
The second covers players who became free afterwards, from 1 July onwards, whether by expiry, mutual termination or a final ruling by a judicial body. Here the circular expressly refers to article 6 of the FIFA regulations on the status and transfer of players, and adds two limits that do not exist in the first category: a maximum of two players per club, and a window running from 2 September to 22 December 2026.
The practical difference is sharp. A club looking to strengthen from among players already free in June faces essentially no limit on numbers until spring. A club going after someone who became free in August has two bullets and a little over three and a half months.
Which of the two applies to Karamoh
When he signed for Porto in September 2025, Italian and Portuguese outlets reported a one-year deal running to 30 June 2026. If that duration is accurate, and the club has never disputed it, Karamoh belonged to the first category: contract expired on or before 30 June, therefore registrable until 31 March 2027 without touching the cap of two.
It is a distinction that looks bureaucratic and in fact decides a transfer strategy. It cost Sampdoria neither of the two slots reserved for point 12 cases, which remain available between now and 22 December. Had his Porto deal been terminated in the summer instead of expiring in June, the same signature would have consumed half of that reserve.
What kind of player arrives in Serie B
Karamoh is a right-footed wide forward who has played on both flanks, with running and dribbling as his recognisable traits. The path is long and uneven, and the numbers that follow are the ones on his encyclopaedia entry: 35 games and 5 goals for Caen in Ligue 1, then Inter in 2017 with 17 appearances and one goal, a loan at Bordeaux, two seasons at Parma, a year at Fatih Karagümrük in Turkey, two seasons at Torino with 60 appearances and 4 goals, a loan at Montpellier in 2024. For Torino other sources report 65 appearances and 5 goals: the difference depends on which cup competitions are counted.
The most recent season is the hardest to read. Porto won the 2025/26 Portuguese title, and in career summaries that trophy sits next to Karamoh’s name. The numbers say something else: the Italian language encyclopaedia entry credits him with a single first team appearance across the whole season, while for the B team he put together 480 minutes and 2 goals in Liga Portugal 2. A title won and a season spent almost entirely elsewhere are both true at the same time, and the first tells you far less than the second about what Sampdoria is buying.
The conditional option, which is not an automatic renewal
The wording of the statement is worth pausing on, because it is not generic. The club does not write option, it writes conditional option. The difference is that a plain option is a right: at the end of the season the club decides whether to exercise it. A conditional one is tied to an event, typically a number of appearances, a share of minutes, a final placing, and when that event occurs the extension is triggered.
For the club it is a way of tying cost to performance; for the player it is a promise that playing means staying. What the event is, in this case, is written nowhere, and it is right to say so rather than guess: Italian club statements are almost always reticent about conditions.
What is still open now
Until 31 March 2027, clubs in Serie A, B and C can keep registering players who were out of contract on 30 June. Until 22 December they can use, at most twice each, the point 12 route for players who became free later. For everything else, meaning transfers between clubs, Italy reopens on 2 January 2027 and closes on 1 February at 20:00.
Put another way: the market is not shut, it has become selective. And which of the two doors applies is decided not by the buyer, but by the date on which the player was left without a club.
Sources: official U.C. Sampdoria statement of 5 September 2026; Italian FA circular 235/A of 27 May 2026, annex A, points 5 and 12; FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, article 6; encyclopaedia entries and specialist outlets for career data. The length of Karamoh’s Porto contract is as reported by the press when he signed, not a figure published by the club.
Frequently asked questions
What contract has Yann Karamoh signed with Sampdoria?
The club statement published on 5 September 2026 describes a contract valid until 30 June 2027 with a conditional option until 30 June 2028. Conditional means the extension does not depend on a free choice by the club: it is triggered by an event written into the agreement, and the statement does not say what that event is.
How can Sampdoria register a player if the Italian window has been shut since 1 September?
Because Karamoh had no contract with anyone. Circular 235/A of the Italian FA, published on 27 May 2026, sets a registration window running from 1 July 2026 to 31 March 2027 for professionals whose previous deal expired on or before 30 June 2026. It is not an emergency exception: it is a window seven months longer than the transfer window itself.
So can an Italian club sign as many free agents as it wants?
It depends on when the player became free. Anyone already out of contract on 30 June falls inside the long window that runs to 31 March. Anyone who became free from 1 July onwards falls under point 12 of the same circular, which mirrors article 6 of the FIFA regulations: a maximum of two players per club, and only between 2 September and 22 December 2026.
Who is Yann Karamoh?
A wide forward born in Abidjan on 8 July 1998, French, 1.85 metres tall and naturally right-footed. In Italy he has played for Inter, Parma and Torino, in France for Caen, Bordeaux and Montpellier, in Turkey for Fatih Karagümrük. He spent last season at Porto.
What kind of season did he have at Porto?
Porto won the 2025/26 Portuguese league title, but Karamoh's contribution to the first team was minimal: the Italian language encyclopaedia entry credits him with a single appearance and no goals that season, while for the B team he played 480 minutes and scored 2 goals in Liga Portugal 2. It is worth holding that number next to the word champion.
Which division does Sampdoria play in?
Serie B. The statement gives no shirt number and no figures, and since the player was a free agent there is no transfer fee to be paid to Porto.
