There are times when partisan loyalties must be set aside and true sporting greatness must be acknowledged and appreciated, regardless of the fact that he plays for Arsenal.
This weekend sees the Dennis Bergkamp testimonial match when Arse play Ajax at their new, 60,000 all padded seater, stadium.
When Bruce Rioch signed Bergkamp the majority of English supporters were only aware of him because of a couple of UEFA Cup games between Norwich City and Inter Milan. His debut for Arsenal was against Middlesbrough in August 1995 and he was the only non English player in the line-up, today he leaves a club which doesn't have a single English player in its first team - a sign of how things have changed in English football.
He has brought touch, flair and skill to the English game in an era when many foreign players are signed because they are cheap and regardless of their skill or ability to adapt to the speed of the English game. Like all great players Bergkamp creates time and space for himself, he has the awareness of what is going on around him and sees moves three or four plays ahead. The £7.5 million Arsenal paid Inter in 1995 looks like a bargain and I'd put Bergkamp up there with Peter Schmeichel, Eric Cantona and Gianfranco Zola as the best foreign imports over the last twenty years. Domestically we will remember his hat-trick against Leicester City, the fact that he won the goal of the season twice and one month finished in the top three places in the Goal of The Month competition, internationally there's that goal against Argentina in 1998 in the last minute of the World Cup Quarter Final.
If these goals don't make the hairs on your neck stand-up you must be a Spud.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYzhUoH0PwA&search=Dennis%20Bergkamp
Bergkamp has said that he doesn't want to go into coaching and that he would like to take three or four years off before deciding his future, well as Jurgen Klinsmann showed this summer that's not a bad idea.
2 comments:
Greta post baldy! I love DB and really wish him all the best. One of his goals is the best I've 'ever' seen, such skill (not sure against who though!)...doh!
I'll second that Paul. His goal against Argentina is my favourite of all time. I'm a fan of goals that come at the right time. If the take down spin and shot weren't enough the fact it came in the last minute of the game topped it.
It's such a shame he never travelled for the CL, because a) I think he missed the opportunity to be seen even more and b) Arsenal probably would have got further than they did up to this year. I wish him a lot of luck. A true great of the game.
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