“I remember Dennis Bergkamp’s weight of pass, when as a wide player you are trying to link up with strikers, and he would feed a perfect pass, you wouldn’t have to break stride and if you gave it back he’d kill it stone dead.”

So said former Gunner Adrian Clarke about Arsenal’s incredible Dutchman.

Adored by every Gooner on the planet, and viewed as the most influential Dutch footballer in English football, as well as being voted the scorer of the best goal in Arsenal’s history, as a child, Bergkamp learned from Dutch icon Johan Cruyff.

Yet, after graduating from the Ajax academy and shining for the first team, his spell in Serie A with Inter Milan saw the future Gunner misfire.

Feeling unloved and unsatisfied in Italy, a move to the Arsenal rejuvenated him as he regained his mojo in north London, starring for more than a decade at Highbury between 1995 and 2006.

Bergkamp was instrumental for Arsene Wenger’s best sides as the creative genius inspired unruly veterans and talented youngsters to seven major trophies during his time with the club.

One such starlet was the likeable Clarke, who spent the first six years of his fledging career with the Gunners.

Memories of Dennis Bergkamp

In an exclusive interview with Dan Mountney for the Islington Gazette, Clarke recalled training – and playing with the Dutch master - with wide-eyed wonder and no little fondness.

“He was just pure class both on and off the pitch. He was a gentleman, no ego at all, he would include the younger players and he was very funny,” he recalled.

“In terms of on the pitch, I’ve never seen a first touch like it. I consider it the highlight of my career playing alongside him. He’s the best player I’ve ever played with.

"You don’t get opportunities to play with someone like that very often.”

Playing under George Graham and Bruce Rioch

Clarke broke through during a difficult time in Arsenal’s history with the club in transition between the end of the George Graham years but still yet to enter the brave new world of the Wenger era - via an interlude from Bruce Rioch.

While the 12 month spell of Rioch as boss will always be destined to be a mere footnote in the history of the club, ironically, his main claim to fame was signing Bergkamp from Inter in the summer of 1995 - even if many suspect kingmaker David Dein was the real driver of the deal – Clarke made the majority of his appearances under the former Bolton manager.

Yet it was his Premier League debut under Graham that Clarke recalls more than any other appearance – and not just because he made his bow at grand old Highbury.

Clarke was there when Jensen scored...

As the likeable 45-year-old, now carving out a successful career in analysing Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, recalls with pride his Gunners bow in late December 1994 – which came in the famous match against QPR when John Jensen finally scored his first goal in red and white, after 98 appearances. 

“When you walk out with the first-team, having been with the club since the age of 10, you can’t explain how proud you feel,” he told the Islington Gazette.

“I was living out my dream. It’s a moment you dream about so many times and then it actually happens.

“It was New Year’s Eve and I came on as a substitute. It was actually the game when John Jensen scored his one and only goal so it was a real I was there moment as well.”

The Cambridge-born wideman’s third boss in three years came in 1996 when Wenger walked through the Marble Halls to replace Rioch in a move which would revitalise the moribund north London club – and revolutionise English football.

Under Arsene warm-ups were more like a pilates class

Clarke revealed the Arsenal squad were both staggered by the Frenchman’s approach, revealing: “We’d read up on him once we saw he was coming, but he wasn’t a famous manager in the UK. It was a shock and a feeling of who is this guy?

“He didn’t look like your typical manager either, he looked more like a professor. But, when he sat us down for that first chat at London Colney, at the end everyone was impressed.

“You also had to get over the shock of the training methods as they were so different, but once you got used to that you realised the benefits and he gained our respect very quickly.

“With Arsene, warm-ups were more like a pilates class, so it was a shock to the system, but we felt stronger in a matter of weeks.”

Heartbreaking to leave The Arsenal

However, with the Wenger revolution about to commence Clarke knew the writing was on the wall regarding his Highbury future.

A raft of new signings including Patrick Viera and Emmanuel Petit in an already crowded midfield, along with the emergence of Ray Parlour and others resulted in a lack of opportunities to catch Wenger’s eye.

“It was heartbreaking to leave,” Clarke explained sadly, adding: “I had limited chances to impress Arsene, but I ultimately needed to leave.”

“I was out of contract and I knew it was unlikely they’d offer me a new deal.

“We had a 10-minute chat at the end of the season, and he said that he thought it would be better for my career to get first-team football and he couldn’t offer me that. He wished me the best of luck, I smiled my way through it and thanked him.

“I remember seeing Matthew Upson going in to sign for the club as I was leaving and I just got to my car and broke down crying. It just hit home that having been there since I was 10, it was all over at Arsenal.”

Read Dan Mountney’s full interview with Adrian Clarke here.