Football
Mattias Karen, Arsenal correspondent 8y

Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp has no plans to move into management

Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp says he has no interest in becoming a manager one day, but enjoys teaching strikers his tricks of the trade as an assistant coach at Ajax.

Bergkamp helped lead the Gunners to three Premier League titles and four FA Cups in his 11-year stint at the club, and has been assistant coach to Frank de Boer at Ajax since 2011.

De Boer has been tipped as a possible successor to Arsene Wenger as Arsenal boss in the future, raising hopes among some fans that Bergkamp could return to North London as well.

However, the chances of the former Netherlands international ever becoming the Arsenal manager appear slim, according to the Dutchman himself.

"The best thing for me is being on the pitch [in training], especially with the strikers. That's my kind of thing, to really teach them things that are the details of football," Bergkamp told the Arsenal Weekly podcast. "How to control a ball, how to shoot a ball, how to pass it, how to look for other players. That's my main thing.

"Therefore my ambition is not really to be a head coach, to be the top coach. I give my opinion and tell [the other coaches] how I feel about it. But in the end there's a head coach who decides what is happening. My part is more on the pitch with the players, especially with the strikers."

That is an area where Arsenal could use some help, given the scoring woes of Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott in the second half of the season.

Bergkamp scored 87 Premier League goals for Arsenal and remains one of the most popular players among fans.

With his former attacking partner Thierry Henry currently working with Arsenal's youth teams to get his coaching badges, the thought of either of them emulating Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane in one day taking charge of the side would excite supporters.

And perhaps Bergkamp's reluctance to become a manager is not quite set in stone, as after retiring in 2006 the Dutchman initially said he would not go into coaching at all.

"I wanted to get out of football and just focus on family life. Just enjoying retirement," Bergkamp said.

But he then started doing training sessions for his son's team in England, before a member of the Royal Dutch Football Association called and asked if he wanted to get his coaching badges back home.

"I was wondering is that for me, coaching and stuff? First I said no. But I wanted to come back to Holland and live there for a while," Bergkamp said. "I made the decision to come back to Holland, as a family we lived here, and I picked up doing my badges."

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