Bergkamp Told Me Everton Was A Good Choice – He Was Right

DAVY KLAASSEN explains how the advice of an Arsenal legend got him ready for ‘big club’ Everton – and why he’s eager to play a key role in the Blues getting it right on the pitch

Dennis Bergkamp was a brutally efficient footballer. His clinical, businesslike demeanour earned the former Arsenal player the moniker ‘Iceman’.

In reality, Bergkamp’s outwardly detached persona was merely a symptom of an individual operating on a different sphere to the mortals in his midst. And the class and economy the Dutchman displayed on the pitch during an illustrious 20-year playing career clearly extends to his use of words off it.

“Good choice,” Bergkamp told Davy Klaassen, when his compatriot chose Everton as his next destination on leaving Ajax in the summer.

Four months later, Bergkamp has been back in touch.

“Everybody knows the example of Dennis Bergkamp,” Klaassen tells Everton’s matchday programme.

“He told me it was hard to adapt during his initial time with Arsenal, so I am not worried or anything now.

“I have faith in myself and just try to do the best I can.”

Bergkamp arrived on these shores in 1995, trumpeted as one of the first true global stars lured to England’s glitzy new Premier League.

None of his three European trophies from spells with Ajax and Inter Milan, nor his tally of 22 Holland caps, protected Bergkamp from the need to scale a steep learning curve as he adjusted to this country’s unique brand of football.

Twenty-two years later and Klaassen is undertaking a similar bedding-in process. Helping him acclimatise – in addition to his own self-belief – is his manager, Ronald Koeman.