Often compared to David Beckham earlier in his career thanks to his floppy, blond locks and penetrative crossing, nowadays Jérôme Rothen probably has more in common with his near-namesake Johnny Rotten than with the Real Madrid glamour-hound. Never afraid to say what's on his mind, the probing left-winger has rattled more than a few cages since joining Paris Saint-Germain from Monaco in the summer of 2004, and he makes no apologies for his forthright opinions.

If PSG was the club of his dreams when he signed fresh from Monaco's European odyssey, it soon became a form of torture as jealousies and resentments spread in the dressing room - and Rothen's own personal take on 'banter' probably didn't help much. "When the players started talking about their Coupe de France final, I said to them, 'Give it a rest, let's talk about me in the Champions' League final'," he recalls. "It was supposed to be a joke, that's just the way I am, but I think they thought I was being a prat."

As the 2004-05 season wore on, the Paris-region native began losing patience with a number of his teammates, accusing them to their faces of either not trying hard enough or simply not being any good. His comments did not go down well on the training ground, especially as he himself missed more than half the season through injury, but when he told President Pierre Blayau and Coach Laurent Fournier that either the under-performers left or he did, there was never going to be any contest. No less a figure than club captain Jose Pierre-Fanfan was shipped out, leaving Rothen free at last to concentrate on his football again.

And that's not just good news for PSG fans, but for Raymond Domenech and the national team as well. Rothen was bred for international football, invited to the training academy at Clairefointaine along with William Gallas at the age of 13, despite being exceptionally small for his age and bursting into tears when his parents left him there. From Clairefontaine he joined Second Division Caen, and made his top-flight debut under Alain Perrin at Troyes in the 2000-01 campaign, having shot up in inches and worked on his physique. His excellent left foot, energy, pace and vision earned him a move to Monaco in January 2002 and he finished the following season with the most number of assists in Ligue 1.

"I first started to think about the France team when I joined Monaco and I knew that if I performed well there it would open certain doors," he says. Crediting the principality club's boss and tricolore legend Didier Deschamps with honing his talent, that's exactly what happened as he was given his first cap against Malta in a Euro 2004 qualifier in March 2003. Seen by many as the type of genuine southpaw France have lacked on the left wing since Didier Six in the 1980s, he was part of Jacques Santini's Confederations-Cup winning side that year, but ultimately played just 11 minutes of France's lacklustre European Championship bid.

Domenech has put faith in him when he has been fit, though, and Rothen is one of the younger generation of players whose place in the team ought not be threatened by the surprise return of the old guard. Not unless Didier Six buys a new pair of boots and jumps on the bandwagon, that is