West Ham midfielder Alex Song has had a good domestic season so far; he’s getting regular football, captaining the squad on occasion, and becoming a fast hero amongst fans – but when it comes to his international career, his fortunes couldn’t be more different.

He was omitted from Cameroon’s Africa Cup of Nations squad and, after what seemed like a brief reprieve to the squad, Song has decided to retire from international football.

I really love Alex Song as part of the squad, and count myself firmly in the number of Hammers who want him to stay—and while I’m not happy for him that at the relatively young age of 27 he has had to retire from international football, his handling of his exclusion from the Cameroon squad and his subsequent pledge towards focusing on West Ham United has only made me love and respect him more.

It was a shock to some that Song was not called up for his national squad initially. West Ham had already planned for life sans Diafra Sakho, Cheikhou Kouyate and Alex Song as the African trio had put in outstanding and attention grabbing performances all season long and were certain (or so we thought) to represent their countries during the Africa Cup of Nations. Whilst Sakho and Kouyate were nabbed up by Senegal, Cameroon head coach Volker Finke chose to omit Song from his squad.

Song has not played for Cameroon since receiving a red card during the 2014 World Cup, and played no part in the qualifying process, but many assumed his tremendous form for West Ham would earn him a spot in the squad – and unfortunately for Song, it wasn’t to be.

This caused no end of joy to the West Ham fans, as we certainly didn’t wish to be without him for any length of time, but it cannot have been a pleasant decision for Song. He’s absolutely on top of his game at the moment, and to be snubbed from playing internationally must have been a blow. Fortunately, Song handled it like a professional – and when Cameroon wavered and opened the door for discussions, he duly complied.

Unfortunately for Song, said discussions did not go well and he decided to retire from international football. Song released a statement saying

“Since the World Cup in the summer and my subsequent exclusion from the Cameroon squad for the African Cup of Nations I have taken the decision to retire from International football. It is true that there were some discussions of late to include me in the squad for this tournament but I feel after a lot of careful thought and numerous discussions with my family this is the right decision.

My love for my country will never change but I want to take time to focus purely on domestic football and start to rebuild my career at West Ham United. I wish Cameroon all the best and the team will always be in my heart.”

It was a well-thought out statement that steered away from blame and negativity (and whinging) and instead offered some great hope to the masses of Hammers who are hoping to keep Song on at the end of the season. His statement about focus and rebuilding his career at West Ham is a statement of intent to the quality of play we can continue to expect from Song as our season rolls on.

It will remain my hope that West Ham will prove to be a great fit for Song – that we will be a club that offers him regular, challenging and rewarding football and also –in time – European football also.

I’m sorry for Song that he’s been let down by his country, but I applaud his professionalism and promised focus on West Ham – and I truly hope that we can repay him for this with an attractive contract at the end of the season.