In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Milan's "three musketeers" Van Basten, Rijkaard and Gullit became the representatives of Dutch all-attack and all-defensive football. In the 10 years since the Retirement of the Three Musketeers, Dennis Bergkamp has lifted up a sky for Dutch football. Although the goal efficiency was not as efficient as Van Basten, or later Van Persie and his former teammate Henry, the "Ice Prince" Bergkamp became the perfect embodiment of Arsene Wenger's beautiful football with textbook technique, good physical fitness and keen grasp of passing opportunities. Against Newcastle United, the wonderful turn to pick the ball and push the goal is like a waltz dance on the green field, and the moment of spring is also a gorgeous poem that will forever be recorded in the history of football.
Dennis Bergkamp was born on May 10, 1969 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The reason why he named Dennis was because his father was a Manchester United fan who admired the Red Devil superstar Dennis Law at that time, so he also named his son Denis. However, it is said that the three older brothers of the little Bergkamp did not seem to be very satisfied with their father's preference, so they asked their father to add an n to his name, becoming dennis.
Dennis did not live up to his father's expectations as a child, showing top talent in football from an early age. Not only football, Dennis Bergkamp is also good at shot put, 1 meter 88 figure plus a pair of long arms, arm strength is amazing, he can be regarded as the best in the shot put project. Later, when we compete in Bergkamp, we can often see the Dutch people using their arms to separate their opponents behind them. Unlike many stars who did not like to learn since childhood, Dennis Jr. is an alternative bully, and his grades are even outstanding enough to jump grades. It can be seen that Dennis Bergkamp is a fairly intelligent child, which is also reflected in his ball quotient when he plays.
From an early age, Dennis Bergkamp was caught up by Ajax, a local giants in Amsterdam. However, his father attached more importance to his studies, so it was not until he graduated from elementary school at the age of 12 that Bergkamp joined the football school of the Ajax youth team. Fortunately, the football school in Jaffa also attaches great importance to the education of young players, because Dennis Bergkamp did not waste his studies here. In the Ajax youth team, Bergkamp improved rapidly and his academic performance was at the top of the list, so he was quickly promoted from the lower youth team to the Ajax reserve team. In 1986, Cruyff, a generation of football legends who returned to Ajax to coach his old club, discovered the young talent in the youth team and quickly promoted him to the first team.
For Bergkamp's cultivation, Cruyff used the radical method. After being promoted to the Ajax A1 level (the highest level) youth team, Bergkamp was relegated to the A2 echelon because of his lack of serious training, which needless to say was naturally Cruyff's instructions. According to Kesham in an interview, he did not only punish Bergkamp, but also to allow him to hone his style of play in the more intense A2 league, and even sometimes the team manager will let Bergkamp appear in unsuitable positions, such as full-backs, to improve his defensive enthusiasm. Soon after, he returned to Bergkamp in the A1 youth team and was once again replaced at half-time. A disappointed Dennis approached coach Van der Hart to ask why he was replacing himself and if he had done anything wrong, but Van der Hart told him with a smile because "tomorrow you're going to play for the first team." ”
In the 18th round of the Dutch league on 14 December 1986, Ajax defeated Roda JC football 2-0, and Bergkamp made his career debut in the 67th minute of the second half in place of teammate Rob Witzger. Since then, under Cruyff's cultivation, Bergkamp has achieved a career triple jump. On 21 February 1987, in Ajax's 6–0 win over Haarlem in the 20th round of the Eredivisie league, Bergkamp made his debut as a starter and scored a goal and assisted once in the match, a goal for his career debut. In the quarter-finals of the first leg of the European Cup winners' Cup on 4 March, Ajax lost 1-0 to Swedish side Malmö, and Bergkamp was given a substitute in the 76th minute of the second half to make his European debut. In the second leg of the quarter-finals on 18 March, Bergkamp was given the opportunity to start and helped Ajax beat Malmö 3-1 to advance to the semi-finals with a 3-2 aggregate score over two legs. In the european cup winners' cup final and the Dutch Cup final, Bergkamp was given the opportunity to play off the bench, and Ajax eventually won both competitions. In the first season of his career, Bergkamp was also praised by teammates Frank Rijkaarde, Marco van Basten and others. After a match, Rijkaard approached Bergkamp: "To be honest, how old are you this year?" 17？ You have a bright future. "At the end of the season, Bergkamp was offered his first professional football contract by Cruyff, and he finally became a professional footballer.
That summer, Van Basten moved to the wealthy ac Milan, and Ajax was also interested in grooming Dennis Bergkamp to become the next Van Basten. But compared to San Marco, who has excellent physical fitness, Bergkamp is not so strong, but the technique is very delicate. Whether it's with the ball, stopping the ball or passing the ball, Bergkamp's on-field performance shows an elegant style, handling the ball quite reasonably. If Van Basten's goals are domineering, then Bergkamp's goals are ethereal and exuding a lot of ingenuity.
In the years that followed, Bergkamp became more and more outstanding, and helped Ajax regain the long-lost Eredivisie title trophy in the summer of 1990. In the summer of Italy in 1990, the Netherlands folded the quarter-finals with West Germany. After the World Cup, the 21-year-old Dennis Bergkamp was selected for the Dutch national team. On 26 September 1990, in a 1-0 friendly in the Netherlands against Italy, then Dutch coach Michels sent Bergkamp to replace Frank De Boul in the 71st minute of the second half, and Bergkamp made his national team debut. Two months later, in the European Championship qualifiers, the Netherlands beat Greece 2-0, and Bergkamp was given the opportunity to start and scored his debut goal for the national team in the 7th minute of the first half. After this, Bergkamp became the main striker of the national team as the partner of Marco van Basten. Being selected for the national team gave Bergkamp more confidence, and this season his abilities were also stimulated, scoring 25 goals in the league and winning the honour of top scorer in the Dutch League and The Dutch Footballer of the Year.
The following season, Van Gaal succeeded BenJak as manager of Ajax, and Bergkamp continued to perform well, winning the Eredivisie Golden Boot and Dutch Footballer of the Year with 24 goals. In the UEFA Cup, Ajax also relied on away goals to beat Serie A side Turin to win the title. At the 1992 European Championship in Sweden in the summer of 1992, Bergkamp played with Van Basten as the main player of the Dutch national team, and in the group stage against Scotland, Germany, and the semi-final with Denmark, Bergkamp scored crucial goals, but unfortunately the team stopped in the final four. However, Bergkamp was tied for top scorer with three goals and was shortlisted for the best squad at that European Championship. In the 1992 Ballon d'Or, the young Bergkamp was shortlisted for third place in the Third Division, while the first place was his old teammate Van Basten.