Samir Nasri didn't hold back when asked to describe his own persona during an interview with French publication L'Equipe back in 2015.
'From time to time, I'm a jerk... I'd prefer to say everything I think, even if it means I'm not liked, even if it means I sound arrogant and a little p****,' said the French star.
Given the trail of rancour and general controversy Nasri has left during a career of largely unfulfilled potential, plenty within the game would agree with him.
It makes the possibility of Nasri, 31, following an 18-month suspension for a doping violation by signing for Everton next month a spicy prospect.
As revealed by Sportsmail on Friday, Nasri is able to train with a club again from next month and Everton manager Marco Silva has discussed the possibility of bringing the erstwhile France international to Goodison Park.
Quite whether Nasri has learned valuable lessons from sitting on the sidelines for so long after receiving a intravenous treatment at a Los Angeles clinic on Boxing Day 2016 remains to be seen. The general track of his career suggests he may not.
Nasri was on loan at Sevilla from Manchester City when he visited the private medical company Drip Doctors in California while on holiday.
He had been pointed in their direction by his Maryland-based former girlfriend Dr Sarabjit Anand after complaining of feeling ill and vomiting.
Drip Doctors co-founder Jamila Sozahdah came to Nasri's LA hotel room and injected 500 millilitres of hydration in the form of sterile water containing micronutrient components.
According to Drip Doctors, their treatments are designed to 'jump-start muscle, tissue and stress recovery.'
Unfortunately what nobody seemed to realise is that World Anti-Doping Agency rules state there is a 50 millilitre infusion limit per six-hour period for active athletes.
Had Nasri not posed for a photograph with Sozahdah, later shared by Drip Doctors for publicity, he might have got away with it.
There then followed a bizarre episode in which Nasri's Twitter account was hacked and a string of explicit messages apparently from Nasri left in the comments section of the Drip Doctors post.
One read: 'U also provided me a full sexual service too right after. So guys make sure you get this service. This w**** came and f*** the same night.'
The posts went on to accuse Nasri of cheating on his then-girlfriend Anara Atanes before the player finally regained control of his account and said it had been hacked.
Sevilla tried in vain to get a retroactive therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for Nasri but this was rejected by UEFA, who gave him an initial six-month ban later extended to 18 months following an unsuccessful appeal.
The ban was backdated to July 1, 2017 meaning Nasri, who had played eight matches for Turkish club Antalyaspor in the interim, is a free agent and can return to training with any club next month.
But really all this was just the latest in a litany of daft decisions that has seen the boundless early promise of Nasri's career unrealised.
There was a real buzz around Nasri when he arrived at Arsenal from Marseille for £12million in the summer of 2008.
He was then 20 but Arsene Wenger had been tracking his progress since he scored the winning goal against Spain in the 2004 Under-17 European Championship final.
'We are delighted to be signing Samir. He is young, quick and technically an outstanding player,' effused Wenger.
Nasri was still young and raw, but hardly a novice having made 166 appearances for Marseille after cracking their first-team pretty much as a schoolboy.
He gained a reputation as a pin-sharp midfielder, nimble in possession of the ball and blessed with a box of tricks to wrong-foot opponents.
His peak at Arsenal came during the 2010-11 campaign when the Gunners threatened to challenge Manchester United for the Premier League title before falling away predictably to fourth.
Nasri scored 15 goals that year in an exciting midfield also containing Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky, the highlight being a 2-1 first leg win over Barcelona - the best team in Europe - in the Champions League last-16.
His performances that season attracted the interest of nouveau riche Manchester City and he duly joined them late in the 2011 summer transfer window for £25m.
Having enjoyed their best season for a while and already smarting from the return of Fabregas to Barcelona a week earlier, many Arsenal fans questioned Nasri's timing and motivations for joining City.
Reports that Nasri had doubled his wages at City probably answered that question and he didn't help himself by taking a parting pop at the Emirates Stadium faithful.
'The City supporters are really passionate and it reminds me of Marseille,' he said. 'Arsenal have good fans but they are not that passionate since they moved from Highbury to the Emirates... that's what you want as a player, a good atmosphere.'
Nasri then described City as 'the club of the future' but it's fair to say his personal contribution to their vision was a minor one.
He struggled to settle in, distracted by turbulence in his international career. His Euro 2012 campaign with France ended with a sweary tirade at a journalist at Donetsk Airport after their quarter-final exit to Spain - 'there, now you'll be able to say I was badly brought up' - and a three match ban from the French Football Federation.
When Didier Deschamps left him out of his 23-man squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Nasri reacted by calling him a 's*** manager' on Twitter. That killed his France career stone dead at 41 appearances and five goals.
International duty had long been a chore for Nasri, who had few kind words for his homeland and the general public, much preferring the relative tranquility of life in England.
'The people in France in general think all the players just have too much money; they are not polite, they are arrogant,' he told The Daily Telegraph in 2014.
'It is not a good thing. If you are from a [Muslim] community, it's even worse. France changed a lot. I don't like it. I love England.'
Unfortunately, England didn't really love him. Although he won the Premier League and League Cup with City in 2014, Nasri's effort and reward gradually diminished. The stellar performances of his early career became few and far between.
'I would like to give him a punch. Because a player like him should play like today always,' said Roberto Mancini after he turned in a match-defining performance against Newcastle in 2014.
Injuries further limited his appearances and Manuel Pellegrini didn't especially rate him. Pep Guardiola less so, hence the loan to Sevilla in August 2016.
It was during that season Nasri was sent off in Sevilla's Champions League last-16 defeat to Leicester City for 'headbutting' Jamie Vardy.
Obviously Nasri couldn't keep his mouth shut: 'For me, he [Vardy] is a cheat. Because if he was a foreign player, you, the English press, would say he is a cheat. Play the game like a man.'
If he does come to Everton, any meeting with Vardy will be very interesting indeed. Not to mention, matches against Arsenal and Manchester City.
One thing is for certain - it won't be dull.