In your early days at Auxerre, you had players like Philippe Mexes and Djibril Cisse to look up to. How good was that team?
Really good. Each position was backed up well, and the players who were in the team were so strong. We were competing in the Champions League back then – and we were such a small club – but there were so many good players. Most of them managed to get caps for their national team, and they were all good characters. One who had a really big impact on me without him even knowing was [one-club man] Johan Radet. I used to admire the way he’d defend, but also how he was so humble. He helped me a lot.
Guy Roux had been Auxerre’s boss for decades back then. What was he like?
He was like Arsene Wenger. He was so close
