Dennis Bergkamp says ‘the Arsenal way’ is central to his coaching philosophy.
The legendary Dutch forward is now assistant manager at boyhood club Ajax, helping them to four league titles over the past six years.
Bergkamp - who retired as a player in 2006 - enjoys helping other players reach their potential, and says his time in north London has been key to his own development.
“I’ve been in coaching now about seven or eight years, or nine maybe, but the best thing for me is being on the pitch, especially with the strikers, that’s my kind of thing, to teach them the details of football,” he told Arsenal Player.
“How to control a ball, how to shoot a ball, how to pass it, how to look for other players. That’s my main thing, my ambition is not to be a head coach, to be the top coach, but more our work now in the coaching staff and play my part within the room.
“I’m giving my opinion and tell them how I feel about it, but in the end there is a head coach who decides what’s happening and my part is more on the pitch with the players, especially the strikers.
“The first thing when I watch English football is I want to see Arsenal, I want to see how they are doing,” he added. "I played 11 years at Arsenal and I tried to give something back to the players that I’m teaching now.
“I want to teach them the mentality and the way English football is and how we used to play at Arsenal and what the coaches would say, what Arsene Wenger would say.
“How the players would play and would approach me and visa versa, that’s what I try to bring to [Ajax] as well.”
More quizzes coming soon!
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
