Dennis Bergkamp was a footballer of rare artistry, a Dutch forward whose sublime touch and imagination elevated everything around him. Schooled in the Ajax tradition, he endured a difficult spell at Inter before finding his home at Arsenal, where he became the creative fulcrum of the club’s most successful modern era.
His control, vision and capacity for goals of astonishing beauty made him one of the finest players to grace the Premier League, central to title-winning sides including the unbeaten campaign of 2003-04. A key member of a gifted Netherlands generation, his fear of flying became part of his legend.
More than a scorer or a creator, Bergkamp was an aesthete, a player who seemed to see angles and possibilities others could not, and who executed them with breathtaking precision.