West Ham United have beaten off several European sides to sign midfielder Alex Song, who has completed a season-long loan deal with the London club.
The 26-year-old, who was signed by Barcelona for £15m from Arsenal in 2012, says he cannot wait to return to London and play Premier League football once again.
“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,” the midfielder told West Ham’s official website.
“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.”
The Cameroon international played 39 La Liga fixtures during the his spell at the Nou Camp, helping his side secure the Spanish League title in 2012/13.
Song has set his sights high for his new club and aims to help West Ham reach European qualification.
“When I spoke to the manager (Sam Allardyce), he gave me very good advice.
“I had a very good chat with him and that’s why I am coming here. We have to do better than last season. I think the club has very good ambition and I hope we can maybe catch the European positions, because that would be very good for the club.”
“I want to be part of that and that’s why I came here. The manager knows what he wants and I know what he wants and that’s why I want to help the team.
“I want to be part of what the club wants to achieve this year.”
Song becomes The Hammers’ eighth summer signing after the arrivals of Mauro Zarate, Cheikhou Kouyate, Enner Valencia, Diafra Sakho, Carl Jenkinson, Aaron Cresswell and Diego Poyet.