Arsenal vs Wolves result: Granit Xhaka's chaotic Arsenal journey ends in fitting style
The Telegraph Granit Xhaka arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 2016, when the club had just finished second in the Premier League. He is expected to leave them in the summer of 2023, after they have just finished second in the Premier League.
Based on those two snapshots alone, an uninformed observer might assume that little has changed at the Emirates Stadium in those seven years. On the most simplistic level, it could be said that Xhaka is departing the club as he found it.
Clearly, that would be a gross misreading. For these have been the wilderness years at Arsenal, a club shut out of the Champions League since 2017, and no player better embodies the chaotic journey than Xhaka, the midfielder who has perhaps lived through more turbulence collective and personal than any other in Arsenals recent history.
In many ways, the story of Arsenal since 2016 is also the story of Xhaka. The two go hand-in-hand and, as he played what was surely his final game for the club, it felt entirely appropriate that it was he who took the headlines again. With two first-half goals, he made sure that this Sunday in May will be forever remembered as his day.
