Football

Dennis Bergkamp, one of the most elegant players to have graced the game of football, was born on 10th May, 1969 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He started his career as a striker, but it was at Arsenal, where manager Arsene Wenger utilized him in a more withdrawn role as a shadow striker behind Thierry Henry where the world realized his true genius. Along with Henry, Bergkamp formed one of the most fearsome strike partnership in the history of club football. Bergkamp started his career at Ajax, coming through the ranks in their famed academy. It is apt that he was handed his first team debut by Johan Cruyff at Ajax, the player around who Bergkamp built his game on. He would go on to play 239 games for Ajax, establishing himself as a prolific striker scoring 122 goals in this period. His performances for Ajax earned him a move to European giants Inter in 1993, where he failed to settle in and would leave in 1995 after two subdued seasons. When he joined Arsenal, he was largely a forgotten man but Wenger's appointment in 1996 completely changed his career around.