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Bergkamp offered an Ajax role

Members

Former Netherlands striker Dennis Bergkamp will return to AFC Ajax after Marco van Basten invited the 38-year-old to start a coaching apprenticeship.

Traineeship
Van Basten takes the Ajax helm next season after leading the Netherlands at UEFA EURO 2008™ and made Bergkamp the offer upon hearing that his 1986/87 club-mate was to take the Royal Netherlands Football Association professional coaching qualification. Bergkamp has been out of football since retiring at Arsenal FC in 2006, following a playing career that took in a spell at FC Internazionale Milano and produced 37 international goals from 79 caps. The current national coach took his first role as a trainer with the Ajax reserves.

Quality
"I called Dennis a few weeks ago, because I wanted to know how he was doing and if he would want to do something for Ajax, in whatever capacity," Van Basten said. "It is important to work with as much quality as possible with Ajax and it is obvious that Dennis has qualities. In our conversation, Dennis said that he would come to the Netherlands to take the coaching course. Part of that course is that the participants enter a traineeship. I offered him a trainee post and he was very interested. I hope and expect that this will be good for Ajax and for Dennis. I think he can make players better. His presence will have an impact on the team. For Ajax as a whole it is also good that someone of Dennis's stature is involved with the club. At Ajax, Dennis can discover whether he enjoys being on the pitch in a different role."

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