Arsenal go Dutch

Arsenal will unveil the pounds 7.5m signing of Dennis Bergkamp this week, after beating off opposition from Chelsea and Aston Villa, to give Bruce Rioch one of the biggest names in European football with which to begin his revival of the club's fortunes.

Bergkamp's agent spent the weekend in talks with Highbury officials and the player declared on a television sports programme in the Netherlands on Saturday that he is "99 per cent certain" to join Arsenal from Internazionale. A signing-on fee of around pounds 1.5m will enable the Gunners to pay a salary that does not break their wages code.

Bergkamp was an pounds 8m signing from Ajax two years ago, but having failed to win over his team-mates or the supporters, Internazionale have decided to sell him and make way for new blood like Manchester United's Paul Ince.

The Dutch international will see the Premiership as the ideal environment to relaunch his career. In recent seasons, the player born into a family fanatical about English football - they even named him after Denis Law, although they misspelt the name - has found considerable success against British teams; England, the Republic of Ireland, Norwich City and Aston Villa have all felt the force of his goal-scoring ability.

Roberto Baggio, the Juventus and Italy striker, has confirmed that he is talking terms with the Japanese club, Yomiuri Verdy. Baggio, who has failed to reach agreement on a new contract with Juventus, has also been linked with both Milan and their city rivals, Internazionale.