My new young teammate was not short of confidence. A streak of self-assured arrogance can be a quality in a footballer, but only if they can back it up with talent.
I had teammates like Eric Cantona who could do that, but this new teammate was more confident than all of them.
In his mind, he was already the greatest player around. Why he was on loan at Birmingham City and not up front for Real Madrid was irrelevant to Nicklas Bendtner, the most cocksure young player I have ever worked with.
He was headstrong and a convinced believer of his own self-generated hype.
I asked our manager, Steve Bruce, if Bendtner was on a massive wind-up. He rolled his eyes. Bruce told me to try and help Bendtner.
Big, fast and strong, his talent was not in question, but his attitude was. He thought he was intelligent on the pitch and did not have anything to learn. You can always learn in football.
Nicklas tried to be clever with me. I told him that I had played at the highest level, scored goals in the biggest stadiums and had won all the trophies.
Still, he knew better. He told me to play football, I told him to behave himself.
Fabrice Muamba told me that while at Arsenal, Bendtner told Thierry Henry that he was a better player than Thierry, challenging him to “Show me what you’ve got”, to his face.
That’s Henry, one of the greatest players of recent times. I thought Fabrice was joking. He was not.
Nicklas was Billy Big Time and saw no fault in himself.
Eventually, I dropped down a few gears and tried to speak to Nicklas like an adult. I was pleasantly surprised when he started to listen to my advice. That is all I wanted.
I wanted him to be a better player, for us to be a better team. Eventually, we could have a proper conversation. I saw a nice kid there, but one slightly out of touch with reality.
He returned to Arsenal and he has been on loan to Juventus and Sunderland, but without any great success.
He has had so many chances to change his attitude, to become a better team player, yet there are still issues. There probably always will be.
Yet, I still liked him. I like kids with a bit of edge, maybe because it reminds me of myself.
I saw him by chance in the United States early this year, and asked him if he had pulled his socks up. He told me that he had, that he was working hard and determined to do well.
He was more mature and respectful than the kid I had seen at Birmingham.
Bendtner should be starting for Arsenal against Liverpool tomorrow, a game between first and third in the Premier League. He should be reproducing the form he has often shown for Denmark.
But he won’t, not unless there is an issue with their main striker, Oliver Giroud, who is having a great season.
I am not even sure if Bendtner will play for Arsenal again after his performance on Tuesday in the defeat to Chelsea. He has become a target for their fans, and not without reason.
Both Liverpool and Arsenal have impressed me this season and it is to their advantage that the title favourites have stumbled.
Had you told me that Arsenal would be eight points clear of Manchester United after nine games and Liverpool four clear of City, I would have laughed, but the league is an open one and six teams could win it.
Liverpool have been the biggest surprise and have lost only once. They have been fine without Luis Suarez and they will be even better with him.
He is a top player. Not top, top. There is too much baggage and too much controversy for that, but he has the unusual ability to charge at players like a buffalo and somehow come through the other side with the ball.
He threw another hand grenade when he asked to leave Liverpool, but he will now believe that they can reach the Uefa Champions League and play at the level he understandably wants.
Arsenal look revitalised with Mesut Ozil. He has given the whole club a huge lift, but they remain overstocked with midfielders and over-reliant on Giroud up front. And while I like Giroud, he is never going to score as many goals as Robin van Persie.
He could have had Bendtner up there with him, an unlikely foil, but one which would make the best of both their talents.
But this is Nicklas Bendtner we are talking about, where nothing is ever as it seems.
Andrew Cole’s column is written with the assistance of the European correspondent Andy Mitten.
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