Arsenal have handed a trial to the son of club legend Dennis Bergkamp.
Mitchel Bergkamp, 22, has spent the week training at London Colney with Steve Bould’s Under-23s side.
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.
Arsenal have been taking a look at him during the past few days as they continue to shake-up their U23s set-up at the club.
The Gunners have sent large swathes of their young players out on loan this summer, while also adding to their ranks with a host of new additions - from both at home and abroad.
They are, however, short of supply in experienced U23s players, with only nine of those in Bould’s current group unable to also play for the U18s.
That saw several players with first-team experience drafted into the side that drew 3-3 against Manchester United at the weekend, with Cedric Soares, Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock and William Saliba all starting.
So the potential addition of 22-year-old Bergkamp could be an appealing option, despite him having never played at the top level in his homeland.
Mitchel 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.”
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 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.
