Learn English – “Older version of me” vs. “older version of theself”

The reflexive pronoun is required when the subject and complement of the verb (or preposition) are the one and the same person. But in the sentence "Quote," said an older version of me, the subject is "an older version of me" and the complement is "Quote". Hence the 'rule' does not apply and me is grammatical in this context.

However, it is common to encounter the use of a reflexive when the context does not require it. Garner in the prescriptive grammar Modern American Usage (p533) describes such uses as "untriggered reflexives", which are "thought somehow to be modest, as if the reference were less direct."

The descriptive Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (p1495) refers to the same usage as "override reflexives" and notes: "Much the most common override is 1st person myself." The CGEL further states:

The use of override reflexives, especially 1st person singular myself, has been the target of a good deal of prescriptive criticism; there can be no doubt, however, that it is well-established, though there is a good deal of variation among speakers as to how commonly and in how wide a range of syntactic contexts it occurs.

"Quote," said an older version of me/myself is a context where some native speakers would prefer the override reflexive to the non-reflexive pronoun.