Nicklas Bendtner's reputation for arrogance often precedes him but the Arsenal striker believes such preconceptions are inaccurate.
The 25-year-old only remained with the Gunners this season due to his high wage demands and Arsene Wenger’s failure to sign another striker during the transfer window.
A period at Juventus began with accusations from within the club that he was “too fat” to play but despite failing to score in 10 appearances, Bendtner still left Italy with a Serie A winner’s medal.
His reintroduction with Arsenal has been decidedly underwhelming but Bendtner believes his experiences on loan at Juve and Sunderland have changed him as a person, along with developments in his private life.
“First of all I had a baby, which changed me a lot,” Bendtner told Arsenal Player. “I think a lot of people say that you have babies and they change you and stuff but for me I could really feel a big difference to my life. Being abroad showed me a lot of different things and different aspects of how to live and how to cope with problems. That has given me a lot more as a man for now.
“I don’t like that I keep getting put up on comments I’ve made which have been wrongly said — that I still to this day have to see it and listen to it but apart from that I am not really too bothered.
“If people don’t like me, fair enough. If people can’t accept that sometimes you’re young and make mistakes and move on, that’s not up to me.”
Among Bendtner’s more infamous quotes was his 2010 declaration that “if you ask me if I am one of the best strikers in the world, I say yes because I believe it” but he now claims: “I basically said I think anybody who plays football in the world would love to try to be the best.
“I think that’s a normal statement and that got [changed] to me saying I was the best player in the world. I don’t know where that came from. I still listen to it now and again and still see it. If people want to believe that, then that’s that.”
