For Emmanuel Frimpong, the parting of the ways was – typically – swift and explosive. Having been left out of Arsenal’s squad for a League Cup game against Chelsea in October 2013, Frimpong tweeted: “Sometimes I wish I was white and English.”

Arsene Wenger was infuriated at the insinuation of racism, and three months later Frimpong was sold to Barnsley. It brought to an end a 13-year association with Arsenal that yielded just 16 first-team appearances but spawned innumerable quotes, memes and GIFs. For one of the Premier League’s first ‘social-media footballers’, it was appropriate a tweet hastened the end. He describes it as “my only regret in football”.

Four years on, the one-time Arsenal cult hero insists he has mellowed, and with his former team facing CSKA Moscow in the Europa League on Thursday, he offers a surprising reference point for advice on Russian football.

Frimpong, now 26, spent three years in the Russian league after leaving Arsenal – first with Ufa and then at Arsenal Tula – and speaks fondly of his time there.

Now back home in Ghana with his girlfriend Esther and baby daughter Emmanuella – out of work since January after suffering a hamstring injury while at Cypriot club Ermis Aradippou – Frimpong revealed all about his time at Arsenal in an entertaining interview with Telegraph Sport.