Alex Song is one of my best ever signings - Allardyce

West Ham were handed an early Christmas present on Wednesday when, for some reason, Cameroon chose to leave Alex Song at home for their 2015 African Cup of Nations campaign in Equatorial Guinea.

Song, 27, is one of Cameroon’s more illustrious players having featured for Arsenal and Barcelona in recent years, but his petulant actions at the World Cup this summer have cost him dearly.

His elbow on Mario Mandzukic in Cameroon’s 4-0 defeat to Croatia means he will now stay with West Ham, which is a huge boost to Sam Allardyce’s Hammers, with Song being one of the stars of their season so far.

Whilst that isn’t a surprise, it was a shock to see Song sign for West Ham back in August. The powerful midfielder was linked with the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United before penning a season-long loan deal with West Ham – and manager Allardyce has admitted that it’s one of the best signings he’s ever made.

“What started off to be an enquiry ended up being a deal that was done extremely quickly. When it came off that quick and he chose us, then I was absolutely delighted,” beamed Allardyce.

“Every West Ham fan now sees why I was so happy about clinching such a player and what it means to us as a team in terms of his ability to control a game and to control midfield. Not being in the Cameroon squad is delightful for me, but not as big a delight as when he joined us,” he continued.

“In terms of my best signings, Alex is up there with Fernando Hierro and Ivan Campo from Madrid, the way he plays the game and controls and sits in that midfield. He’s cool, calm, never rushed, that’s a measure of a quality player – when he never looks under pressure or rushed in what he tries to do,” added ‘Big Sam’.

The praise aimed in Song’s direction isn’t to be sniffed at. During his time at Bolton, Allardyce managed to lure a number of prestigious signings to the Reebok Stadium, including Campo, Hierro, Hidetoshi Nakata, Jay-Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff, Mario Jardel and Nicolas Anelka – so Song stands in great company with Allardyce’s latest comments.