Arsenal great Dennis Bergkamp named Ajax youth team boss after Frank de Boer's promotion



Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp has officially been named Ajax youth team manager after the previous incumbent Frank de Boer was promoted to the senior team hotseat.



Former Holland international De Boer has has been appointed until the summer of 2014 following Martin Jol's departure last month.



The 40-year-old had been in caretaker charge of the club since Jol left his post, having recently been an assistant to national team coach Bert van Marwijk.



Legend: Dennis Bergkamp has started what Arsenal fans will hope is the long road back to the Emirates Stadium hotseat

With De Boer now officially installed, confirmation of Bergkamp's role as head coach of A1 - the name given to the highest age group at the Dutch giants' famed academy - followed.



Bergkamp, like De Boer, came through the youth system in the Dutch capital before achieving notable success elsewhere the continent. The ex-Gunner retired from football in 2006 but has since gradually earned his coaching spurs at the club where he started.



Main man: Frank de Boer has officially taken over from Martin Jol at Ajax

De Boer spent 11 years with Ajax between 1988 and 1998, winning league titles, the Uefa Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the World Club Championship, before stints at Rangers, Barcelona and Galatasaray. He has also earned 112 caps for his country.

Bergkamp spent the same amount of time in north London after signing from Inter Milan in 1995, and has made no secret of his desire to train the Gunners' strikers.



And in February Arsene Wenger left the door open for a future link-up recently when he tipped Bergkamp to be a 'very good coach'.



That same month Bergkamp completed his coaching badges with the Dutch FA alongside former international team-mates Phillip Cocu, Patrick Kluivert and Michael Reiziger.



'I wouldn't rule out (working for Arsenal),' the 40-year-old said in 2009. 'I really love this club and the country and I love working here.



'I would advise everyone to work in England, as a player or a coach, it just breathes football. It is fantastic for the game.



'I want to work and train a team in England. Not as a head coach but instead as a member of staff, where I could work specifically with the strikers.



'Being a coach means you have to work 24 hours a day and that does not suit me. You have to watch matches at home, travel to see other teams, prepare training - it is something that I am not ready to do.'





