Alex arrived at Arsenal in 2005 as a teenager but left seven years later as a classy operator. He was initially signed on loan at the age of 17 from French club SC Bastia. After a successful debut campaign at Emirates Stadium in which he played nine times, he joined the Club on a permanent basis.
Song really made his mark at Arsenal during the 2008/09 campaign after a loan spell with Charlton Athletic. Still only 21, he held down a regular place in the Starting XI and struck up a solid partnership with Cesc Fabregas at the heart of midfield.
Alex added a creative dimension to his game and scored Arsenal's 1,000th Premier League goal under Arsene Wenger in a 4-1 win over Bolton Wanderers in September 2010. His five goals that season were his best haul at the Club.
While primarily a defensive midfielder, the 2011/12 campaign was one in which Alex threw off the shackles and truly demonstrated his attacking prowess. The Cameroonian finished with 14 assists in all competitions and was second in the Club’s Player of the Season poll. He then joined Barcelona in August 2012.
Reply with your questions for Alex and we will share them with him on Live From N5 before our match against Bournemouth. You can tune in to LFN5 on Arsenal.com 📝⬇️
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19 Comments
No question, but I will always appreciate that goal vs Bolton!
Do you regret leaving Arsenal for Barcelona?
Did you enjoy playing as a DM or would you rather have played further forward throughout your career?
Dortmund, Everton, Liverpool, Leeds – which one was your favourite assist?
I feel your Leeds assist gets overlooked because of the magnitude of the goal itself
what did you enjoy the most about working with wenger?
Who’s your favorite midfield partner?
If you could change 1 thing in your career, what would that thing be? and what was the thing with AS Arta/Solar7, you played there for a few years
Do you still watch Arsenal? If so, how do you find the constant, and repeated, negativity around the clubs style of play and regardless of result, Arsenal always seem to be in the wrong?
Did the Barca players and your friends and family make fun of you after you thought puyol wanted you to lift the trophy instead of abidal? How long did it take you to recover from the embarrassment?
Are you disgusted with the way Arsenal play these days? Especially since you were playing under Wenger’s Arsenal?
Boooo
Hi Alex, do you feel like you get enough credit from fans and pundits for how good of a midfielder you were? You’ve always felt like an under appreciated player to me.
Nobody wants to hear from him honestly.
While Song was in his prime for us, I went to watch the Cameroon NT train at our local stadium in Kenya (Kasarani), and it was a bunch of us local Arsenal fans, just to catch a glimpse of this great midfielder we had!
Man, it was so cool having players from Africa turn up for Arsenal and you are definitely in good company (in my books) when we look back at Arsenal’s African Greats.
I wish you didn’t go to Barca, but it won’t stop me from giving you your flowers.
Which player or coach do you think really helped unlock your potential for your incisive passing in your final years at arsenal ?
While he was with us, he became such a formidable tackler.. It was the equivalent of watching Messi dribbling with the ball, except it was watching someone who knew how put his leg in front of the ball, or body in front of the opponent in such a reliable and consistent way.
Really enjoyed watching him go from rough diamond to one of the best midfielders in the league.
Although, ive always assumed wages played a big factor in great arsenal players leaving one after the other (and the club’s lack of transfer spending), I wonder if seeing quite a number of his generation leave arsenal around that time and fail to replicate the dominance and primacy they had in the arsenal team didn’t cross his mind before he left us, or give him some doubts.
Obviously most professional athletes need extreme self belief, but i never thought Hleb, Flamini or even Cesc (at Barca) ever managed to truly emulate their on-pitch success/form after leaving us.
randomly one of my favorite Arsenal players
Can you apologise for leaving the way you did?
I tried to start an Alex Song chant based on Sisco’s the thong song. Why didn’t it catch on?