Ajax sack Dennis Bergkamp: Ex-Arsenal team-mate Marc Overmars and Edwin van der Sar remove Gunners legend

Tom Doyle21 December 2017

Dennis Bergkamp has been sacked by Ajax in a decision overseen by former Arsenal team-mate Marc Overmars, the Dutch club's director of football, and Manchester United icon Edwin van der Sar.

The Amsterdam club sit second in the Eredivisie table but announced in a statement on Thursday afternoon that coach Marcel Keizer and his assistants - former Arsenal striker Bergkamp and Hennie Spijkerman - had been "removed from active duty".

One of the specific reasons stated for Bergkamp's departure was a "difference of opinion" over the implementation of technical policy.

Van der Sar, Ajax's ​chief executive, told the club's official website: "We had a bad summer and a messy start to the season.

"From a sporting point of view, European elimination (from the Champions League preliminaries) was the low point.

"Marc Overmars and I have frequently spoken in the months afterwards about the permanent volatility of the first team.

"We are not confident that we will achieve the level that we are striving for with Ajax in this way."

Overmars played with Bergkamp at Arsenal between 1997 and 2000, and also featured alongside him for the Dutch national team.

Outgoing Ajax coach Keizer took over in the summer from Peter osz, who moved to Borussia Dortmund but was sacked himself earlier this month.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.