When Louis Saha came for talks with Fulham in the summer, club chairman Mohamed Fayed was happy to clear plates from his table. the end of the season the former Metz striker could have the Harrods owner eating out of his hand.
Saha has already repaid a large chunk of his £2.1 million transfer fee by becoming the leading goalscorer in the country with 12 goals in all competitions.
He has been a key figure behind the unbeaten start of Jean Tigana's team which has taken them to the top of Division One with 11 wins and just one draw.
But the success is little more than Saha had hoped for after playing alongside some of the world's best forwards.
Saha and Arsenal striker Thierry Henry were at the French national coaching centre at Clairefontaine at the same time as former Gunner Nicolas Anelka and the trio have remained good friends.
"The training at Claire-fontaine was great and I owe everything to those coaches," said Saha, who lives with his girlfriend Aurelie in Oxshott, Surrey. When we first got there they told us: 'You don't know how to play football. We will teach you'.
"There were 25 of us living on site and I played up front with Anelka in the Under-17 side. "Anelka and Henry were my best friends. Our families are all from the Antilles in the West Indies and we always used to hang out and speak Creole to each other.
" My parents know Thierry's parents well and I sometimes go to stay at their place for my holidays. "The three of us used to sit around and dream about playing at the World Cup.
"It was just a joke at the time but then Thierry went off to Monaco, started scoring for fun and suddenly, 'boom!' It was almost like a dream when he got his first cap. None of us could believe it, but then he went to the World Cup and the rest is history."
Saha partnered ex-England captain Alan Shearer during a five-month loan spell at Newcastle last year but now he is very much a Fulham player.
He added: "We're flying high, scoring goals and enjoying ourselves. I am sure we will go up. "The desire and the framework is there for us to go all the way to the Premier League and we would have to look upon it as a failure if we don't get there this season."
Saha, 22, joined Fulham from Metz despite the opportunity of moving to Monaco and playing in the Champions League.
"I had to think long and hard before I signed," said Saha in the latest edition of Fulham's quarterly magazine Fultime. "I wanted to set myself a challenge and to play my football at a big, ambitious club.
"Monaco have a large squad and I didn't want to spend most of the season sitting on the bench. "The chance to work with Tigana at Fulham was also a big incentive for me.
"He told me I could develop here and it made me very proud when he said he wanted me to join him. "Tigana is very serious and dedicated and he pays individual attention to each player. That's very important for a striker like me because it helps build confidence."
Saha scored only four league goals for Metz last season and has set himself a target of 20 for this campaign. This total now looks ridiculously low but he is also hoping to catch up a little on his former youth-level team-mates.
He said: "Henry and Anelka are far ahead of me now. I would say I'm about two or three years behind them because they've had so much more experience at the top level.
"But it's great to see them going off all over Europe and doing so well. "The most important thing for me is to build my own confidence and score goals.
"I'm still hopeful of breaking into the French side. Like any player, all I can do is my best and then see what comes my way.
"There is such a great mix of young players in the team and it's encouraging to see players from my generation coming through." France Under-21 international Saha is not the only Fulham player hoping to break into the full squad.
On-loan midfielders Fabrice Fernandes, from Rennes, and Nicolas Sahnoun, from Bordeaux, are highly thought of in their homeland.
But clubs there also think a lot of Tigana and are happy for their players to get valuable experience in the English game under his guidance.
It may not be too long before the Fulham manager has set up an unofficial French academy in west London.
He has brought in the former Clairefontaine coach Christian Damiano as his assistant and the training methods he has introduced are the norm at big French clubs.
Saha added: "The new training regime, which pays attention to every small detail, gives us that little bit extra.
"Pre-season may have been tough but when you keep winning you forget all about that hard work.
"Everyone is happy in the dressing room, we are scoring goals and the spirit among the players is superb."