It’s been just over three months since Granit Xhaka seemingly sounded the death knell on his Arsenal career.
As he trudged off the pitch at the Emirates Stadium with 29 minutes remaining of the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on October 27, the midfielder reached boiling point.
With the boos from the home crowd ringing in his ears and having slung his captain’s armband in the direction of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the much maligned Xhaka snapped.
Up went the arms and then came the moment that most thought there would be no way back from. “F**k off’ he clearly shouted to his own fans, who were by this point incensed.
When he finally reached the touchline, Xhaka peeled off his shirt and and headed straight down the tunnel - with many believing it would be the last time we saw the Switzerland international in north London.
Next Match
Xhaka remained silent in the days that followed - despite increasing pressure to say sorry - and when he finally did break his silence, his post on social media was more of an explanation than an apology.
"The scenes that took place around my substitution have moved me deeply,” he said. “I love this club and always give 100 per cent on and off the pitch.
"My feeling of not being understood by fans, and repeated abusive comments at matches and on social media over the last weeks and months have hurt me deeply.
"People have said things like 'We will break your legs', 'Kill your wife' and 'Wish that your daughter gets cancer'.
"That has stirred me up and I reached boiling point when I felt the rejection in the stadium.
“In this situation, I let myself be carried away and reacted in a way that disrespected the group of fans that support our club, our team and myself with positive energy. That has not been my intention and I'm sorry if that's what people thought.”
Just a week later, Unai Emery confirmed Xhaka had been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy; he also admitted that he was unsure whether the midfielder would play for the club again, with Hertha Berlin keen to take him back to Germany.
But now, just three months later and as Arsenal prepare to face Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday afternoon, Xhaka is at the heart of things once again. The final weeks of the Januray transfer window passed without even a hint of a departure.
The 27-year-old is back in the side and one of the first names on the team sheet under new head coach Mikel Arteta. He’s even donned the captain’s armband again, albeit only for the final few seconds of the draw at Crystal Palace when Alexandre Lacazette threw it his way as he was being substituted.
It’s been a remarkable turnaround for Xhaka, one that few could have foreseen in the aftermath of that poisonous afternoon.
The role Arteta has played in it deserves great credit. For an inexperienced coach, the way he has handled such a tricky situation has been exemplary. From almost the first day he arrived, he spoke of his desire to keep the midfielder.
“When I was going from Arsenal to [Manchester] City to start coaching and we were looking in that position, he was one of the players on my list,” Arteta said ahead of his first game in charge against Bournemouth on Boxing Day.
“This is how much I liked him. I was happy when Arsenal signed him because I thought he was going to be a terrific player.
“He has got stuck in a very difficult situation that, I think, was growing and growing and growing and one day it exploded.
“Obviously it is difficult to change completely the scenario from where he was to a magnificent one. But I think we are in the right direction with him.”
Public words of support like that will not have gone unnoticed with Xhaka. He is a complex character, one who holds very strong beliefs and in the immediate aftermath of the incident against Crystal Palace he felt he had been wronged, not just by the fans but by the way Emery had treated him.
At that time he wanted to go and he would have if Emery had stayed. But in Arteta he suddenly had a coach who was supporting him publicly and that was doing everything he could to make him stay in north London.
“The way we want to play, if we get him on board he can be a tremendous player for the football club,” said Arteta, while discussing Xhaka after the victory over Manchester United on New Year’s Day.
“I like the way he is, the way he lives, his professionalism, and the way he trains. Every time I am talking, he is listening and willing to learn and he is a great football player.
“The way we want to play, there are not as many with his quality on the ball and the way he eliminates passes, and the range of his pass. I am delighted to have him.”
Since Arteta was appointed, Xhaka has started every game barring the home defeat by Chelsea, which he missed due to illness, and has enjoyed his best run of form for a long time.
Operating closely alongside Lucas Torreira, the pair have given Arsenal’s back four the protection it was missing under Emery when Torreira was inexplicably used in a more advanced role and Xhaka was often left totally isolated.
Defensively, Arsenal are much improved and Xhaka has been central to that improvement, often dropping back alongside the centre-backs to make a back three when the left-back bombs forward to support the attack.
Xhaka even filled in as a makeshift centre-back himself for more than an hour at Chelsea after David Luiz’s sending off, producing an excellent display next to Shkodran Mustafi as Arsenal snatched a 2-2 draw thanks to Hector Bellerin’s late equaliser.
The scenes that followed Bellerin’s dramatic late strike at Stamford Bridge told their own story. Xhaka didn’t just celebrate the goal with his team-mates, he celebrated it with the away fans.
It felt like an incredibly important moment for Xhaka. Just three months earlier he was an outcast, now he was leading the celebrations with 3,000 supporters who had made the short journey across the capital.
What happened at the Emirates back in October may not have been forgotten, but Xhaka’s road to redemption at Arsenal is certainly well underway.
Next stop, Burnley.