Having been handed his Ajax debut by Johan Cruyff as a 16-year-old back in 1986, Dennis Bergkamp went on to win one Eredivisie title, one Dutch Cup, one UEFA Cup and one Cup Winners' Cup before Europe's biggest clubs started to circle for his signature in 1993.
Rumour had it that Real Madrid were interested, while Cruyff, by then the coach of Barcelona, wanted the Dutch international to join him at the Camp Nou.
However, Bergkamp had set his heart on a switch to Serie A, where some of his countrymen had previously flourished. So, 21 years ago today, the centre-forward agreed a move that would see him join Inter Milan at the end of the season for a fee of £7.1m, which would also see his teammate Wim Jonk make the same transfer.
"I always had the feeling I'd go to Italy, the biggest league at the time. I didn't want to go to Milan because Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard had gone there. It came down to Juventus or Inter. We had a better feeling from the people at Inter," he told FourFourTwo in February 2011.
Whereas the likes of Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard had success in the San Siro with AC Milan, Bergkamp found it difficult to replicate those performances with their rivals.
He made his debut against Reggiana in August 1993, before going on to score his first goal in a red and black shirt against Cremonese a month later. That would be just one of 11 Italian league goals, though, as Bergkamp found it difficult to get the better of notoriously stubborn Serie A defences.
The centre-forward did have more success in the UEFA Cup, scoring eight goals in total as Inter went on to win the trophy in 1994 courtesy of a 2-0 aggregate victory over Austrian outfit Salzburg.
Bergkamp would return to Inter after the 1994 World Cup, but his displays were not looked upon favourably by one Italian publication in particular, who changed the name of their 'Donkey of the Week' award to 'Bergkamp of the Week'.
It meant that despite speculation that Inter president Massimo Moratti was eager to retain his services, Bergkamp sealed a £7.5m to Arsenal in 1995, where he would become a legend among the Highbury and Emirates Stadium faithful.
Liam Apicella
