Barcelona call the tune as Alex Song signs

Following Robin Van Persie’s £24m move to Manchester United, Arsenal have lost another influential player, midfielder Alex Song, who joined Barcelona today for £15m.

Talks over a new deal at Emirates Stadium stalled and the Spanish club moved in with a £70,000-a-week offer to add Song to their already formidable first team squad.

The 24-year-old Cameroon midfielder underwent his medical tests with the club this morning and is now set to put pen-to-paper on a five-year contract with the Spanish giants later this afternoon.

Doctor Ricard Pruna said of Song on www.fcbarcelona.com "He has a very low body fat percentage and very good muscle quality. All the tests have come out satisfactorily and he is available to the coach."

Song, whose contract with Barca will have a buy-out clause of 80million euros, is then set to join his new team-mates for the official team presentation at the Joan Gamper Trophy at the Nou Camp this evening, where the Catalan club face Sampdoria.

Song sat out Arsenal's Barclays Premier League opener against Sunderland on Saturday amid widespread speculation he was on the verge of a move to Barca, and immediately after that match it was announced that the two clubs had agreed terms for the transfer of the player.

The midfielder joined the Gunners on loan from French club Bastia in August 2005 before Arsene Wenger made the move permanent at the end of the 2005/06 season.

In the following season he spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Charlton before returning to Arsenal and subsequently establishing himself as a key member of Wenger's squad.

In total, Song made 204 competitive appearances for Arsenal during his seven seasons at the club, scoring 10 goals.

Song becomes Barca's second major signing of the summer after the capture of Spain full-back Jordi Alba from Valencia and follows a well-worn path from Arsenal to the Nou Camp.

During Wenger's reign, Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Thierry Henry, Alexander Hleb and Cesc Fabregas have all made the switch to Barca.