BERGKAMP 20

[Bradywasking]

Today marks the 20th Anniversary of the signing of Dennis Bergkamp by Arsenal. One of, if not THE greatest player ever to play for our club, what are your favourite Bergkamp moments and do you rate him as the greatest Arsenal player ever?

[augie]

For me he is THE best player ever to play for the club and I would be amazed if we were ever to have a player of his level to play for the club in the next 100 years. Apart from his unquestionable world class talent, he also made those around him look good too - henry wasnt the same player at barca as he was with us alongside Bergkamp and the same also applies to anelka at madrid, and where would freddie have been without Dennis sliding those perfect through passes for him to finish ?

Obviously THE goal against the geordies ranks as the highlight that stands out for everyone, but the goal against the mackems also stands out as a goal of outragous skill

[markyp]

geordies and Leicester will always stand out,bloody genius

[REB]

i was sitting on a beach in turkey and a guy a few feet away had a paper so thats when i first heard we had signed him from the back page of the daily mirror he was reading

thats how we got our transfer info back then

[SammyDroppedHisShorts]

One of the best ever to be a Gooner!! Twenty years flew by but what a host of memories he gave us

[g88ner]

My favourite memory was probably finding out we'd signed him. I had a newspaper clipping on my wall; never did that before or since, but there was a real sense of excitement and shock that we'd signed such a player.

My other favourite memory was Southampton at home in his first season. Dennis hadn't scored in his first 6 games and the press, pundits and opposition fans were starting to question the great man ( ). Then he bagged 2 fantastic goals against Southampton and never looked back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlX2LDzRMV4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJWJW49zkbc

Genius player and my all time favourite.

[A11M11]

g88ner me too , those goals against Southampton was when the move from Highbury began . I reckon it was structural because the stadium rocked off it's foundations when the second one went in.

[cardinal2011]

I cannot stress how much I miss watching him play for The Arsenal

He is by far most sensational player I have ever seen in all the years I have watched us play. I remember going to my first game at Highbury after he left and having a strange feeling, knowing that he would not be coming on. I suppose that it is a prime example of "better to have loved and lost, then never to have loved at all"!!!!

I often wonder if he will come back one day as head coach/manager? I would love to see him back but I worry that if he does comes back and is not successful then would it take the shine of all our memories?? Mind you can you imagine the reaction he would get?

[donaldo71]

When i hear Gooners call Ozil great and world class i tell them to go and watch a DVD of DB10 then come back to me and tell meOzil is world class

We once had DB10 and TH14 in the same team.Think about it

[arseofacrow]

Changed everything at Arsenal.

The best player I've seen play for Arsenal and one of the top 5 to have played football in this country.

Most notable for being one of the many excuses as to why we couldn't win in Europe (to date).

[Bradywasking]

That goal at Newcastle was his greatest moment in an Arsenal shirt..summed up his vision, genius and steel ..He had a brilliant nasty streak to go with his other qualities..To think people tried to say the Newcastle goal wasn't deliberate pissed me off. The proof that every bit of it was deliberate was the fact it was Bergkamp that done it. Zola , Cantona and maybe Suarez could do things like that.
Years later Nani hit a right wing cross that deflected off a defender , another defender in the centre slipped and Wayne Rooney attempted an overhead kick which wasn't perfect as he shinned the ball , great goal nevertheless but to class it greater than Bergkamp's at Newcastle was a joke and based on the scorer rather than the goal. Another sublime Bergkamp moment was his assist for Freddie V Juventus at Highbury ..14 touches on the ball before a sublime pass for Freddie to score.
Magical player that we were blessed to have.

[nut flush gooner]

My favourite memory was probably finding out we'd signed him. I had a newspaper clipping on my wall; never did that before or since, but there was a real sense of excitement and shock that we'd signed such a player.

My other favourite memory was Southampton at home in his first season. Dennis hadn't scored in his first 6 games and the press, pundits and opposition fans were starting to question the great man ( ). Then he bagged 2 fantastic goals against Southampton and never looked back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlX2LDzRMV4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJWJW49zkbc

Genius player and my all time favourite.

Absolutely, the press where slaughtering him. Spuds where saying we bought a dud.

Arsenal fans where behind him right through this period. We knew we had bought a gem. When he scored those goals vs Soton the stadium erupted. It's one of those moments that stands out for me as we where in a transition from being renowned as a boring team to one that played flowing football.

[I Hate Hleb]

I remember reading an article by Alan Sugar claiming Arsenal had well over-paid for Bergkamp and that Spurs were offered him at a much cheaper price but declined.

I kept it and when we won The Double in 1998 sent it to him at Tottenham with a letter asking if he still felt that way and enclosing a £5 note with the suggestion that perhaps he should try 'over-paying' for a change.

So every dud big money buy made by Spurs subsequent to that can be credited to me, I believe.

[augie]

That goal at Newcastle was his greatest moment in an Arsenal shirt..summed up his vision, genius and steel ..He had a brilliant nasty streak to go with his other qualities..To think people tried to say the Newcastle goal wasn't deliberate pissed me off. The proof that every bit of it was deliberate was the fact it was Bergkamp that done it. Zola , Cantona and maybe Suarez could do things like that.
Years later Nani hit a right wing cross that deflected off a defender , another defender in the centre slipped and Wayne Rooney attempted an overhead kick which wasn't perfect as he shinned the ball , great goal nevertheless but to class it greater than Bergkamp's at Newcastle was a joke and based on the scorer rather than the goal. Another sublime Bergkamp moment was his assist for Freddie V Juventus at Highbury ..14 touches on the ball before a sublime pass for Freddie to score.
Magical player that we were blessed to have.

I know that we are all a bit biased towards our own clubs at times, but when I hear pundits suggesting that zola or cuntana were the best foreign players ever to play in England, I find it offensive to football and it fcuking drives me mad - not alone were they not good enough to be spoken in the same breath as the great Dutchman, but what he did he did with a class that speaks volumes about the man. The great players make everything look simple and make their team-mates look better than they are and that has often gone un-noticed in a generation where noise and empty vessels seem to rule

[GranadaJoe]

One of the above posters highlighted how DB10 made those around him look good and I think this is often overlooked by pundits. For all the memories of him and TH14 in harmony, he was just as good with Wrighty.

His signing is virtually my only memory of Rioch.

A truly sublime player to watch. Although not as spectacular as some of the goals mentioned above I used to love the delicate chips over the GK.