By Myles Palmer
None of the Confederation Cup trio will play against Rushden & Diamonds in Northants tomorrow. No Pires, no Wiltord, no Vieira.
Interest will therefore centre round Jeffers and van Bronckhorst.
It was typical of Wenger’s approach that he had those two doing pre-pre-season fitness training in Antibes four weeks ago.
And it was hardly surprising to learn that when Wenger was said to be on holiday in the South of France, he had popped in to monitor their work!
In the middle of an explosion of tedious reports about agent Marc Roger’s doomed attempt to make himself richer by fixing Vieira a move to Real Madrid, nobody has asked : can Dennis Bergkamp have a swansong season?
Marginalised last year, scoring only five goals(one less than Parlour!)he must be due a comeback this term.
Yes, he was 32 on May 10th, but he is still a powerful athlete and still a phenomenal technician. I think he will have a good season because Jeffers will make the right kind of runs for his passes. The 20-year old can make the veteran look good.
Also, Bergkamp has had time to get his head together. Before last season he started most games he was fit for. When suddenly that didn’t happen he threw a wobbly on his website, saying, “If you look at my career, you’ll see I’m not a substitute.”
That must have been hard for Dennis to handle. And he missed another FA Cup Final.
My gut feeling is that he still has plenty of football left in him.
So I will be watching DB10 very closely during August and September.
20th July 2001.