Dennis Bergkamp ends two-year exile from game

From: The Times Online
By Gary Jacob

Dennis Bergkamp has kept a low profile since he retired from football, but the Dutch master will return to the sport next month when he begins a coaching course. The former Arsenal forward hung up his boots after playing host to the first match at the Emirates Stadium, against an Ajax legends team, nearly two years ago. Little has been heard or seen of him since.

Bergkamp, who turns 39 next month and lives in Hertfordshire, has enrolled on a fast-track coaching diploma for former players from the Netherlands. “I'm starting to get the itch to get back into football,” he said.

The Dutchman has not cured his fear of flying, which stems back nearly 15 years, so will be allowed to study in London under Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, rather than attend lessons at the Dutch FA in Zeist, east of Utrecht. Bergkamp qualifies for the fast-track scheme - Johan Cruyff also graduated from the course - because he has the necessary requirement of more than 50 caps. He retired from international football after the 2000 European Championship, having scored a record 37 goals in 79 appearances for Holland.

When Bergkamp left Arsenal, he was emphatic that he would make a clean break from the game. “I have never thought about coaching, it has never attracted me,” he said then. Wenger offered Bergkamp the opportunity to do some scouting, but the forward chose instead to watch his former team from his box at the Emirates and travel around Britain with his wife and four children.