Dennis Bergkamp expects to sign a new contract which will keep him at Arsenal for another season after expressing a desire to finish his career at Highbury. Having picked up another FA Cup winner's medal, the Dutchman now has a first Champions League success on his agenda.
Bergkamp celebrated his 34th birthday yesterday but showed against Southampton at the Millennium Stadium that he still has plenty to offer.
"I've got a meeting this week and I hope there won't be any problems because the boss (Arsene Wenger) told me months ago that he wanted me to carry on for another season and I want that as well," Bergkamp said. "My desire to carry on is still there. I just love football, especially at the highest level, and I believe I can still play at my age. While you still feel like that it would be stupid to stop.
"We'll probably take it one year at a time and that's a safer option for both sides. It is difficult to retire. It's a major thing in your life and I've been playing since I was 12, so I don't even want to think about giving up.
"I don't think I'll ever play for another club. You want to play at a high level and I think I have that chance with Arsenal because there's not much higher and, if there is, they probably won't buy me."
Despite an impressive medal collection, Bergkamp has not enjoyed success in the European Cup. Ajax won the trophy a couple of years after he left and Arsenal have not got beyond the quarter-finals. As he prepares for what could be his last season, he is keen to thrive in the Champions League.
"We feel as a team and (I feel) personally that the Champions League is a big challenge," Bergkamp said.
"Maybe I would not want to carry on if the team was going nowhere but while there are challenges and ambition in the team to go further I want to be part of it. The success drives you on. Challenging for trophies is a fantastic feeling which I don't want to stop."
Bergkamp also called on team-mate David Seaman to remain at Arsenal for a further year after the goalkeeper ensured victory with a save from Brett Ormerod.
"When you look around you don't see many better goalkeepers," he said, "so I don't think they should get rid of him yet."
Meanwhile, two of Gordon Strachan's most creative players at Southampton, the Swede Anders Svensson and the Frenchman Fabrice Fernandes, left Cardiff bearing loser's medals and grievances. The two represent ugly cracks in the structure Strachan has been building at Southampton since arriving 17 months ago.
Although on Saturday Strachan played down the significance of Svensson's 75th-minute substitution and Fernandes' non-appearance until the 86th minute, presumably each individual's dissatisfaction will have to be addressed before the manager can contemplate any additions to his squad this summer, a squad that plays in Europe next season.
Not even that carrot appealed to Svensson as he cast doubt over whether he will be back at St Mary's next season. "We'll see," he replied. "It's a possibility it could be my last game."
Svensson, whose subtlety was restricted to one neat drag-back in the Arsenal box, then outlined his frustration: "We lost to a team that was definitely better than us. You could see for yourselves that we didn't create that many chances.
"But for me there was no logical explanation for our tactics in the second half. If you are one-nil down with less than 45 minutes to play you have to try to score. You don't substitute a player who could create something. I was very angry."
What happens next for Anders Svensson is thus a Southampton priority, though he seems a stalwart character when compared with the peripatetic Fernandes. Rennes, Fulham, Rangers, Marseille and Southampton have all made it on to the Fernandes CV and he is only 23.
Fernandes cut a disenchanted figure as he ignored Strachan's handshaking of players as Southampton awaited the medal ceremony. Strachan belatedly laid a hand on Fernandes, patting him on the back as Fernandes mounted the podium. But it was no reconciliation.
