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It's finally official: Alex Song has returned to the Premier League, as West Ham United announced that they have reached an agreement with FC Barcelona to land the 26-year-old, both clubs confirmed on Saturday.
West Ham are delighted with the news. The team's chairman, David Gold, called Song "a big signing", and the player is beyond happy to return to England, where he had a great run at Arsenal.
Barça announced the news like this:
FC Barcelona and West Ham United have reached an agreement for the loan of Alex Song to Premiership club for the 2014-15 season.The Cameroon international midfielder joined Barça from Arsenal in the summer of 2012. Since then he has made 65 official appearances in the Barça colours, scoring one goal.In two seasons at the Camp Nou, Song has won the Liga title in 2012/13 and the Spanish Super Cup in 2013/14.Source: FCBarcelona.com
The London side, on the other hand, wrote a gigantic article when confirming the news. They're really excited:
West Ham United are delighted to confirm they have beaten off interest from some of Europe's biggest clubs to complete the signing of Barcelona midfielder Alex Song on a season-long loan deal.Song, 26, has spent the last two seasons at the Nou Camp following his £15million move from Arsenal in the summer of 2012, playing 39 La Liga matches and winning the title in 2012/13.The Cameroon international, who can also play at centre-back, is delighted to be returning to London with the Hammers and cannot wait to face the challenge of Barclays Premier League football again.Song said: "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."Source: WHUFC.com
I love the part when the West Ham website says that " they have beaten off interest from some of Europe's biggest clubs". Man, they're really delighted.
We hope Song returns to his best form there. While his tenure at Barça wasn't good at all, he's a great guy and deserves all the success he can get. See you later, Lord Song. May the Systeme Tchakap take over England.
