No Arsenal deal for Bergkamp's son after trial

Arsenal will not be signing Mitchel Bergkamp following his week-long stay with the north London club last month.

Bergkamp, son of Gunners legend Dennis, was invited to London Colney in October where he spent a week working with Steve Bould’s Under-23s.

The midfielder has been a free agent since the summer having left Dutch second tier side Almere City, where he progressed through the youth ranks.

But he will not be following in the footsteps of his father and making the move to north London, with Arsenal not looking to pursue a transfer following his short spell at the club.

Bergkamp grew up in London and was on the pitch with his father for his testimonial against Ajax in 2006, which was the game that officially opened Emirates Stadium.

And although he left England 14 years ago, he still holds Arsenal close to his heart.

“My father also played for Internazionale and Ajax, two wonderful clubs, but Arsenal feels like home,” he said during an interview with ELF Voetbal last year.

“Whether I choose the Emirates or Highbury? I would have preferred to play at Highbury. There are the memories of everything my father has done for the club.”

Arsenal have brought in several players from overseas to bolster their youth set-up during recent months, with large swathes of the club’s Under-23s players having been sent on loan for the season.

That has left Bould in short supply of experienced U23s players, with only nine of his current squad unable to also play for the U18s.

The addition of 22-year-old Bergkamp could have added to his options, but the Gunners U23s boss will now continue on with the players he has at his disposal.

Mitchel’s father, Dennis, made 423 appearances for Arsenal during his glittering 11-year stay in north London which stretched from 1995 to 2006.

The 51-year-old scored 120 goals for the Gunners and won three league titles alongside four FA Cups. He was named the Premier League Player of the Season in 1998 and his total of 94 Premier League assists remains an Arsenal record.

He retired in 2006 before returning to former club Ajax, where he took his coaching qualifications and began working in the academy. In 2011 he was named as assistant to first-team manager Frank de Boer, but took a step back following the appointment of Peter Bosz.

Bergkamp eventually left Ajax in 2017 and has recently been helping out in a technical capacity at Almere City, where Mitchel had been playing.

He was linked with a possible role on Mikel Arteta’s coaching staff following the departure of Freddie Ljungberg in the summer, but sources at Arsenal insisted at the time that there hadn’t been any contact.