Cup-tied for Brazilian league?

I am playing in the Brazilian league (First Division) and recently signed a player on a free transfer. He had previously played for another Brazilian First Division club this season, on loan, before being released by his parent club. I now cannot play him; he has the 'Cup' icon next to his name, and cannot be selected.

Is there a rule that a player cannot play for two Brazilian First Division clubs in the same season? If so, why didn't the game warn me against signing him? If not, is this a bug?

See if he has played for 2 clubs within the year before yours and also sometimes for cups if he has played a cup match for the other team he wont be allowed to play in the cup for you

No, the cup isn't an issue - there isn't a cup going on at the moment; it's the league it says he's "cup-tied" for.

The two clubs in a year possibility had occurred to me, but his history doesn't suggest such a thing. If it was this, wouldn't the game display somewhere a date from which he would be eligible?

he wont be eligible till next season

It's because the player played a certain amount of games in the nat'l league, so he is not allowed to play games for other teams.

Could you post a pic of his history?

Ah, I see. That's extremely irritating. I think I feel justified in using the real-time editor to adjust his wages to zero until I can use him, because there was no in-game warning that I wouldn't be able to use him, not even from my Assistant Manager.

I will post a picture of his history later, when I have the game loaded.

Do you know how many games this "certain number" is, so I know who I can and cannot sign during the August transfer window?

I agree that this sort of information needs to be made available for people who are not so familiar with the league. I got caught in the same situation myself and had to leave a record signing just training for most of a season because he was ineligible.

A mention during the transfer would be ideal but it should at least be included on the league rules page.

The best way to implement it would be on a scout report ("Player A has played too many games this season to be eligible to play for you if you were to sign him"), and further during the transfer negotiations ("Your Assistant Manager points out that Player A will be ineligible for league games until next season").