Alex Song has signed a 5-year contract with Barcelona after Arsenal accepted to our €19 million offer. Is the Cameroon international what Tito Vilanova needed to complete his squad though?

Looking at the obvious defensive weaknesses last season, it was clear a centre-back was needed. Thomas Vermaelen, Neven Subotic, Jan Vertonghen, Daniel Agger...The list of candidates considered for the job was endless, with numerous rumours appearing on the Catalan media on a daily basis.

The unexpected departure of Seydou Keita (who decided to swap the chance to win European titles for vast amounts of Chinese money) clearly changed our approach towards this transfer window. The focus quickly shifted towards signing a polyvalent player who could act both as a holding midfielder and a central defender.

As a result, Tito Vilanova chose Javi Martinez as his number one priority. When contacted, Athletic Bilbao valued their 23-year-old star at a massive €40 million, making it impossible for Barcelona to even make an offer close to the asking price.

Alex Song was then considered. The Cameroon international has been known for his versatility, good passing ability and high intensity during his 204 appearances for The Gunners in just 5 seasons.

It must be said that many Blaugrana fans would much rather trust upcoming talents such as Marc Bartra or Andreu Fontas to cover our defensive vacancy rather than splashing €19 million on a player who would need time to adapt to the Barcelona system and is not a pure central defender anyway. Plus, 20-year-old Sergi Roberto has proven his worth as holding midfielder during pre-season.

I disagree. While La Masia players play a key role in the development of Barcelona, the truth is foreign players are essential to add that extra dimension to our squad. We would not achieved 14 out of 19 possible titles in the last 4 seasons without Dani Alves, Eric Abidal or Javier Mascherano. Lionel Messi wouldn’t be half the player he is without the influence of Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o as a youngster.

Alex Song, at only 24 years old, has already played over 250 professional matches. In that time, he has been known for his competitive spirit, powerful jump, accurate passing and, above all, defensive strength.

On that basis, I can only applaud the arrival of Alex Song to the Camp Nou.

Culés, as always, expect very highly of this new signing. The 185 cm tall midfielder is already being compared to the dearly-missed Yaya Toure but, personally, I feel we need to let the Cameroonian show what he can do for us before putting unnecessary pressure on him. All we need to do for now is hope he can at least repeat his 14 assists and 46 appearances for Arsenal last season.

I would also like to point out that Alex Song is the 7th player who has chosen to leave Arsenal for Barcelona in the last 10 years after Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit, Giovani van Bronckhorst, Alexander Hleb, Thierry Henry and Cesc Fàbregas. In that time, we have paid The Gunners a total of €150 million. Perhaps it is time for Barcelona to start looking for players elsewhere, especially since Arsenal has signed our La Masia youngsters such as Fabregas himself, Hector Bellerin, Jon Miguel Toral, Ignasi Miquel or Fran Merida for free in the same period.

Generally speaking, I’m pleased that Sandro Rosell has invested a reasonable amount this summer in order to give Tito Vilanova the left-back and defensive-minded player he asked for. The Barcelona board always granted Pep Guardiola all of his transfer wishes during his years in charge, whether they were proven stars such as Cesc Fabregas or unknown experiments such as Dmytro Chygrynskiy.

Here's wishing Alex Song a long, successful career at Barcelona!

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