Bergkamp still hungry

By Julia Court

It has been a summer clouded with uncertainty for Arsenal FC's Dennis Bergkamp. With a new stadium draining the coffers at Highbury, a fresh deal for the out-of-contract Dutchman - which had once seemed a formality - hung in the balance. But after weeks of wrangling, the 34-year-old finally tied up a one-year deal in mid-July that will enable the striker to end his illustrious career at the north London club.

Unfinished business
Sentimental reasons played some part in the striker's desire to stay at the club he joined from Internazionale FC in 1995 for €10.6m, but Bergkamp's prime motivation for remaining at Highbury was unfinished business.

Missed chances
"When you have such a special attachment to a club, emotions of course come into these situations," he told uefa.com. "But I would not want to stay if I didn't believe I could still play at the highest level and make my contribution to the club. It has also been the story that Arsenal have not performed to our ability in Europe and now I have been given another chance in the [UEFA]Champions League. To win this trophy in my final year would be something incredible."

Cruel twist
Arsenal have only reached the final eight of the Champions League once in the past five years, despite notching up two domestic league and cup doubles within the same time frame. "To think about what has happened before in the Champions League is not a good way to prepare psychologically for our next season in Europe," said Bergkamp.

Lessons to learn
"It is important to focus on every game as it comes and to have confidence in what we know we can do. But there are lessons that we can learn from last season and I think the biggest thing that let us down was our home form."

Medal hat-trick
A Champions League trophy would complete a formidable European hat-trick for Bergkamp who already has winners' medals in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Add these to an impressive list of domestic and individual honours and it is fairly safe to say the quietly spoken player already has plenty to tell his grandchildren about.

European swansong
However, before Bergkamp takes to the Champions League stage there is the small matter of the Premiership to get under way. The Gunners will be going all out to win back the title that was snatched from under their noses by rivals Manchester United FC at the end of last season.

Strong position
"The race for the title should be very interesting," said Bergkamp. "Arsenal have had some criticism because we have not made many new signings over the summer but we already have a very strong squad of players at Highbury. I have said before that this is the best team I have played with at Arsenal and now Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires have re-signed we are in a very good position.

Young promise
"We also have a lot of young players coming through now. Jérémie Aliadière has been getting some attention recently. I've trained with him for a while now and I can tell you, he is some player. He has great skills and is always looking around for different options in his play." Perhaps one day he will become the new Dennis Bergkamp. But not before the old one has hung up his boots.

Dennis Bergkamp's website is at www.icons.com