Alex Song's loan move from Barcelona to West Ham United was one of the eye-catching signings of this summer's transfer market. Along with the recruitment of Morgan Amalfitano, the two midfielders completed a busy summer as the Hammers signed nine players in total.
The Cameroonian international has an impressive resume having played for Arsenal and Barcelona as well as featuring in the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups. Despite offers to play for several clubs in the Champions League, Song chose to come to West Ham.
Describing how his move from the Catalan coast to east London came about, Song explains: "My agent asked if I wanted to move back to London. I always said if I was going to leave Barcelona it would only be to go to England.
"After I knew West Ham were interested I spoke to Javier Mascherano, he gave me good news about the club. After that I spoke to Sam Allardyce and decided to come here."
Living in London clearly suits the 27-year-old as he describes his time at Arsenal as "the best moments of my career."
Having played regularly for the Gunners for six years, Song believes his Premier League experience can help the Hammers: "I have experience of Champions League games, I have to try to bring my experience to help the team."
Despite only being at West Ham for a matter of weeks, Song is impressed by new signings such as Enner Valencia and Cheikhou Kouyate: "I watched Valencia play at the World Cup, he did very well there. I've seen Kouyate play for the Senegalese national team. I knew before I came that they were two very good players."
Looking ahead to Saturday's game against Liverpool, Song is excited about the prospect of playing against Liverpool in what could be his home debut for the Hammers.
"They are a very good team with very good players. I watched them play against Tottenham, they are a good to watch. They like to play football and they score a lot of goals."
Song is particularly excited about facing Steven Gerrard: "He's the best player I've seen in a Liverpool shirt. I've played against him quite a few times, and every time I thought 'Today is going to be a hard day'. He's achieved a lot, and even now at 34 he is still very good."
Song recalls the first time he saw Gerrard play, when he went to visit his cousin, Rigobert Song, who was playing for Liverpool at the time: "The first time I went to England was in 1999. I went to watch a Liverpool game, I was 12 years old at the time. After the game I thought 'wow that was unbelievable'".