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Premier League side West Ham have successfully completed the signing of Barcelona defensive midfielder Alex Song on a season-long loan deal, the club announced through its official website.
The former Arsenal star was also linked to a move to Tottenham Hotspurs, but his loyalty towards his previous club perhaps acted as a catalyst towards the success of this move. Barcelona will not be receiving a loan fee for the Cameroon midfielder, and will continue to pay for his wages.
Player Statement
"I'm very happy to be here and very happy to see the guys and the fans today and to start to do my job for West Ham United. I think this is very important for me to be coming back to London to West Ham United, which is a club with ambition to build a new stadium and become a big club. I am very excited to be part of this project.
"For me, when I was in Spain, I always said that if I was to leave one day I would return to the Premier League. It was a very hard decision, because when you have options of a lot of clubs who are playing in the Champions League, but at the end of the day I chose West Ham because I wanted to come to the Premier League. This is a league which has given me a lot and I didn't finish what I wanted to achieve here.
"For my family too, it was very important, because my children and my wife wanted to come back to England. This is an opportunity to do that with West Ham and I just took it. I am very happy to be here and very proud to be part of the project at this club."
Since moving to Barcelona in 2012, Song had been struggling to secure a spot in the first team, making only 39 appearances in two seasons, scoring one goal.
