Song signs for a team from … Djibouti!

Not long ago, Alex Song He was a young Cameroonian midfielder who was on everyone's lips. Promising and one of those figures destined to become one of the best in his position. Or, at least, to find stability in a big team on the European scene. Something I was aiming to achieve when Barcelona, ​​in 2013, disbursed about 20 million euros to get their services, from Arsenal.

Today, seven years later, Song, with 33 “tacos”, has signed a two-year contract for Arta Solar 7, a team in the Djibouti league. Opportunity that comes to him after having finished his link with the Swiss Zion, where he came from Rubin Kazan. However, as he recounted in an interview with 'The Telegraph', his stay in Russia was hell. Homeless, alone, eating even in the clubhouse and with a dark room. All this adding to him that he did not understand anything by not speaking the language. A nightmare that was preceded by having touched the sky playing for Barcelona.

Signing for Barça: money before football

Precisely, his adventure in 'Can Barça' was something that he never painted well from the beginning, sportingly speaking. Song himself, a few months ago, opened up on the 'Lion Indomptable' portal with his compatriot Pascal Siakam, a player for the NBA Raptors. “Barcelona were interested in signing me and their sports director (Andoni Zubizarreta) spoke with me. He told me he wasn't going to play much. I told him that I did not care, I knew that now I was going to be a truly millionaire. I thought about my wife, my children and how it was necessary that after football we could have a comfortable life. “

Of azulgrana, with Tito Vilanova on the bench, he won a League and a King's Cup. His signing took place in 2012, while his departure took place in 2016. But there were only two courses that he played complete of 'culé', since its role was scarce, with players of the stature of Xavi, Intesta, Busquets, Mascherano, Cesc Fabregas or Thiago Alcantara ahead. This led to his assignments to West Ham (14/15 and 15/16).

Of course, before landing in Barcelona and falling “plummeting”, it was at the Arsenal where it exploded and became known. Powerful in the start, but technically fine, in addition to his neat defensive work, Song became an indispensable piece in the eleven of Arsène Wenger. There he arrived in 2005, after capturing the attention of the veteran French coach in his first and only season with Bastia's first team. Thus following the usual transfer policy of the former 'gunner'.

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A relationship that lasted up to eight seasons, which culminated in a total of 205 games, 10 goals and 23 assists. Time in which he came to coincide with a figure like that of Thierry Henry, to which, precisely, he traced his path years later, changing Arsenal for Barcelona. With the former footballer and current coach in Montreal, he keeps a curious anecdote the first day he saw him arrive at training.

“I signed my first professional contract and was earning £ 15,000 a week. He was so happy … He was a young man who went on to earn from 4,000 to 15,000. I got to training and saw Henry arrive with his car, which was a gem. I thought I needed the same car no matter what it cost. Since you were a soccer player, you went to the dealership, signed some papers and they gave you the car. This is how I had the same car as Henry. After two months I understood that the money was going to go away and I told them to give me a Toyota. Henry asked me what I did with my car. I replied that it was too much for meSong assured.

In addition, in that same direct from Instagram he wanted to give advice to the youngest. “I always say that a 20-year-old who drives a Ferrari is poor, because at 20 you still haven't done anything… But a 50-year-old man who drives a Bentley is a man who should always be respected, “said the Cameroonian, who will now have a new experience in Djibouti.