Kevin Darling on the rise, fall and plummet of West Ham’s Barcelona loanee who looked a world beater two years ago but is now relegated to the reserves.

When Alex Song outclassed Yaya Toure in a dominant midfield display as West Ham beat Manchester City 2-1 at Upton Park in October 2014, something didn’t feel right about it.

Anyone who witnessed the dreadlocked Cameroonian’s majestic performance – relentlessly winning tackles, gracefully orchestrating attacks, heroically leading his team-mates – was left baffled at how Sam Allardyce’s uninspiring Hammers outfit been allowed to sign a bona-fide world class talent from Barcelona for free and then unleash him on the Premier League with devastating effect.

A La Liga winner at the Nou Camp, a star of Arsenal’s midfield until his big-money move to Spain, not old, not injured, playing for West Ham when he was plainly good enough to walk into any team in England. What was the catch?

Did he have an underlying medical issue? Was he about to be arrested for arms trading? Was it the strange way he wore his shorts? Was it his wacky dress sense involving an array of extremely silly hats?

Apparently not. For Hammers fans, the catch was simply that they had only signed Song on loan (albeit on a sensational deal that meant Barca would pay the entirety of his reported £90,000-a-week wages for the season).

And while they dreamed of somehow negotiating a permanent transfer for their new star player, it seemed certain that once the year was up he would move on to bigger and better things.

It hasn’t quite worked out that way.

Eighteen months later, Song is still at West Ham, and still on loan. But Friday’s news that Norwegian defensive midfielder Havard Nordtveit will move to east London in the summer looks like the final confirmation of what many have long suspected: Song is no longer wanted in east London.

And worryingly for the 28-year-old, he doesn’t appear to be much in demand anywhere else either.

After being relegated to the bench in recent weeks, Song has not even made the squad in West Ham’s last two matches, despite not being injured.

It is rumoured that the club would be forced to sign him permanently if he plays a certain number of games this season – something they appear very keen not to do.

With a year still to run on the five-year contract he signed at Barca in 2012, Song is set to return to the club who can’t seem to give him away. They’ve already tried once.

Last summer, West Ham had a free run at a player who only months earlier was considered to be out of their league.

In July 2015 reports emerged that the Hammers would sign Song for a “knockdown” £5m – a fraction of his value when he first joined them.

However, this already bargainous price was soon downgraded to a free transfer – seemingly a sensational coup for a player of Song’s quality – but the Hammers decided against that too.

With question marks over an ankle injury Song had sustained at the tail-end of last season, chairman David Sullivan opted for another year loan, with an option to buy.

Another reason for the new-found caution was that Song’s form over the course of the 2014/15 season had deteriorated.

Although he sustained the exceptional level of his Man City display until Christmas, at which time the Hammers were making an unlikely push for a Champions League spot, from January onwards both club and player went emphatically off the boil.

While Allardyce paid for the team’s slump with his job, Song’s demise was more mysterious.

The Hollywood passes that always found their mark in the first half of the season suddenly became liabilities that frequently gifted away possession. The tenacity of Song’s early displays was replaced by a more lackadaisical air.

With injury cited as a potential factor, the Hammers took what Sullivan called a “gamble” to sign Song for a second season.

But after being ruled out in the opening months of the campaign, Song appears to have been fighting fit ever since.

The question marks now appear to be over his ability to cut it at the top level.

There have been good moments this season, notably another imposing performance in the home match against Man City in January, but also nonchalant showings that have frustrated the crowd which adored him a year ago.

One addition to Song’s wacky wardrobe this season has been a pair of protective eye glasses – worn for medical rather than fashion reasons. Song tossed the spectacles aside half-way through the aforementioned Man City match because he claimed he could see better without them.

But entertaining eye-wear has not been enough to propel Song ahead of Cheikou Kouyate, Mark Noble and Pedro Obiang in Slaven Bilic’s midfield pecking order – and the Croatian is not the first manager to eschew Song’s obvious assets.

Barcelona’s Luis Enrique won’t give him a look-in, Cameroon excluded him from their squad following the 2014 World Cup and prompted his retirement from international football, while Arsene Wenger has shown no desire to take Song back to Emirates despite his obvious availability.

The only team offering an olive branch to Song last summer were West Ham – and even then only on their own hugely advantageous terms – and now they don’t want him either.

But can a great player become a bad one overnight? Has Song already lost it at 28? Is he really such an objectionable character? Would Barcelona fork out £15m for a mug?

Surely not, which means there is only one explanation for his current predicament. It’s those silly hats.