It says a lot about Gilles Grimandi that he hopped aboard the 139 bus last Thursday to make his way home. The Frenchman may own a Porsche and be a key player at Arsenal, but brash and arrogant he is not. In the event of another fuel crisis his team-mates know where to turn for advice.

"It's no problem to travel by bus or the tube in London," says the 29-year-old. "Sometimes in the south of France it's different but here, when people recognise you, they are always nice. If it's easier to take the bus I will do it."

If Arsenal supporters are soon lining the route of the 139 it would not be entirely surprising. The man once voted Arsene Wenger's worst signing in a fanzine poll has undergone a remarkable transformation to become an integral and popular figure at Highbury.

In the past 16 months only Patrick Vieira and Ray Parlour have started more league and European matches and Grimandi's tenacious style has left its mark on more than Diego Simeone's face. He is being seriously considered for his international debut against Turkey later this month, a few days after his 30th birthday. "Some people in France have come to see me a couple of times and, if they think I can help, it would be fantastic for me to be in the group," says the former Monaco player, who has never made a French squad. "I would go with a lot of pleasure and pride."

And no doubt relief at leaving behind the clutch of players who spend international weeks at Arsenal. "Sometimes we are just two or three," Grimandi says. "Dennis (Bergkamp) has joined us now because he has stopped his career with Holland but they are strange weeks. We train as normal and some young players join us, so it's not a holiday."

Yet, even if Grimandi has a French cap to cover his unkempt locks, he is unlikely to feel the need for a chauffeur. As an emerging player he studied economics at Nice University, enticed in part by a desire to experience life outside football, and his childhood in the quiet skiing town of Gap in south-east France taught him to appreciate his privileged existence.

"If people could see how some families there still live they wouldn't believe it," he says. "There are small villages no one can get to in the winter because of the snow. The people stay there for four or five months and in spring they can be visited, and people can come down and go shopping in Gap. It's good to go back and see people like that because we have a lot to learn from them."

A keen skier in his youth - "all the good skiers in France come from where I lived; I think I am the only footballer" - Grimandi seemed to be on the slippery slope out of Highbury not long ago. In his second season at the club, in 1998-99, he started only three Premiership matches.

"It was a difficult time for me, perhaps the worst of my career," he says. "It's hard enough in your own country if you do not play but it is even worse abroad. I didn't know whether to stay or leave but I decided it was a good challenge, to try one more season to show what I can do."

It was a wise choice. As his English has improved so has his confidence and sense of belonging. Convinced by Wenger that he could succeed as a midfield player having grown up as a defender, he played an important part last season, turned down a summer move to Marseille and has now taken on an even more crucial role.

With his friend Emmanuel Petit gone and Edu's arrival held up by passport problems, Grimandi has forged a strong partnership with Vieira in midfield and slotted in at centre-back when needed. The fact that he is a Premiership ever-present going into today's match at Middlesbrough tells its own tale.

Grimandi's work may not be spectacular but it is certainly effective. Invariably available for a pass, he rarely wastes possession and has provided a defensive barrier which Vieira says has given him the opportunity to get forward. The fans appreciate his wholehearted effort, too. "I play differently because they know what I am capable of and they don't blame me or say I'm a bad player," Grimandi says.

"He's efficient," explains Wenger, who first worked with Grimandi at Monaco. "He knows what he can do and he doesn't try to do more than he can. He also has good vision and is good at winning the ball back. He's not scared to put his foot in and he's an intelligent guy, so he always tries to think: `What can I do better?' "

That intelligence and calm persona off the field are what makes his tendency to lose his rag on it so bizarre. Banned for three Champions League matches for hitting Simeone in Rome, he was also suspended for stamping on Gary McAllister's hand and was sent off last season for elbowing Barcelona's Josep Guardiola. The misdemeanour list goes on.

It is hardly the work one would associate with a man keen to learn another language and hoping to take up the piano again soon. Even he admits that, when he sees his behaviour on television, he sometimes cannot believe what he has done.

"When I (hit Simeone) two or three seconds later I thought, `Why did you react like that?' I react too quickly. Off the pitch I don't like fights; I'm not aggressive. But it's my personality in football. I got two or three red cards at Monaco as well. Sometimes opposing players are not very fair but I have to learn not to react. I'm 29 and I think I'm going to stay calm now."

With that Grimandi was off to board the luxury coach for Middlesbrough, but it is a fair bet he will be back on the 139 before long. A low profile suits him. "I don't want to be famous or in the newspaper every day," he says.