"I did not call myself World's Best Striker" - Nicklas Bendtner

Remarks which he had made three years still come back to haunt him, but Nicklas Bendtner is all about clearing the air now. Various reports have Bendtner claiming that he never called himself the World’s Best Striker.

Bendtner made his comeback for Arsenal last weekend against West Brom, after two full seasons of being out on loan at Sunderland and Juventus.

‘I basically said that I think that anybody who plays football in the world would love to be the best. I think that’s a normal statement and that got [changed] to me saying that I was the best player in the world,’ he told Arsenal Player.

‘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.’

The Denmark international believes that the birth of his child along with time away from the Emirates have helped him immensely.

‘First of all I had a baby, which changed me a lot. I think a lot of people say that you have babies and they change you 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 and things like that. I think that has given me a lot more as a man.’

Bendtner has been given one more chance by Arsene Wenger which he most definitely can’t let go to waste.

‘If people don’t like me, that’s fair enough,’ he added. ‘If people can’t accept that sometimes you’re young and make mistakes and move on, that’s not up to me.

‘I try to do my best and that’s basically all I can do for my family and my friends and everyone around the club.’