09 December 2023 , 10:31
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Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp still dreams of buying a Football League club.
Bergkamp, the brilliant Dutch striker who served the Gunners with distinction for 11 years, wants to return to the English game as an owner and coach.
The 54-year-old failed with a takeover attempt at Wycombe Wanderers four years ago, after a consortium which also included iconic names like Henrik Larsson, Dirk Kurt, Ronald Koeman and Phillip Cocu saw the club’s shareholders strike a deal with a rival bidder at the 11th hour.
Bergkamp has also confirmed in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that he supported Swedish Spotify tycoon Daniel Ek in his unsuccessful attempt to convince Arsenal owner Stan Kronke to sell the London club in 2021.
Bergkamp claims he still has the backing of his powerful pals - and that he is in the market for a League One club. Bergkamp said: “Wycombe Wanderers was a nice project - and we were very far along with it. It only fell through at the end.
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“Together with Phillip Cocu, Ronald Koeman, Dirk Kuyt, Henrik Larsson and (agent) Rob Jansen we were going to buy the shares. It is still a dream of mine to develop players, run an academy, and use all our knowledge and experience to get promoted.
“Not with a foreign billionaire who puts in a lot of money just to go up quickly. If you have a group of former top footballers together then you just start lower. I am convinced that with a club in League One, with real football knowledge, you can get promoted to the Championship within five years, 10 years at most.
“We are not talking about the Premier League. That is a very difficult league to enter. I did go into Arsenal with some other Arsenal Legends, together with Daniel Ek, but you can hardly move the owner of such a big club to sell in this day and age with the amounts that apply.
“The sale of Manchester United is also still not complete.”
Bergkamp (R) joined Ajax's coaching team but has now been out of the game for six years (VI-Images via Getty Images)Bergkamp, who joined Arsenal from Inter Milan in a bargain £7.5million deal in 1995, won three Premier League titles during his time at Highbury and was a huge influence on Arsene Wenger ’s Invincibles.
He insisted he would never contemplate a move into coaching when he retired in 2006, but two years later he joined the staff of Ajax, the Amsterdam club that kick-started his playing career.
Bergkamp worked in Ajax’s formidable academy before becoming Frank de Boer’s assistant when his former team-mate was made senior coach in 2011. But his role changed when Peter Bosz replaced De Boer - and he has not worked in the game since being sacked six years ago.
Now the Dutchman is hungry for a return to the game he graced - and is ready to pass his genius on to the next generation. Bergkamp said: “I have never felt the need to make teams better. I have often had discussions about whether I can do that and, honestly, I don’t think I can.
“I am much more content working with the ball. I’ve never been much into it, systems, 4-3-3, 4-4-2, I don't feel it. What I do want is to explain in detail to the boy how he can function best..
“That is what I find almost beautiful. The bridging role at Ajax, from the youth in training to the first team, suited me best. That was also how I played, between the lines. I was not a midfielder, not a striker.
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“What I want is to command respect and to know that people listen when you say a player is arriving from the youth and that they don't just move on to another older player. If I return to football - and I think I will - that is one of my main ambitions. I think I'm good at that.”