Arsenal star says no to Ajax hopes

By European Football
May 4 2005

Dennis Bergkamp has ruled out any chance of a move to Ajax, by stating he will retire in the summer if he fails to agree a new deal at Arsenal. There were high hopes at Ajax that he could persuaded home but speaking to the clubs official website Bergkamp stated: "I've said already a few months ago that I would like to carry on and the boss has said we would have a talk about it in the next few weeks.”

"Until then, I don't know what's going to happen as I don't know what he has in mind. Depending on that, I want to make my decision.

"In my mind, I don't want to go to any other club. If it won't be here, it won't be anywhere else and that's a major decision to take."

"Since I left Ajax, that was 12 years ago and a lot of things have changed, a lot of people have moved on.”

"There are a lot of new faces there now.

"So to do that at my age, to go back to a lower level league, would be hard to take - if you can still play at the highest level.

"I would like to consider another year here or otherwise not at all."

"I would like to know what kind of team will still be here next year - is it going to be a much younger team for the future?"

"I'm not going to be part of that future, of course, in three or four years' time. But you want to have a very good team that is challenging for trophies next season.

"I want to listen to what he has to say and what he thinks about my position.

"I still love football, that's the main thing and it's difficult to walk away from that. That plays a major part in my decision.

"But there could be a lot of negative things coming from the boss as well, so we'll see."

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