Arsenal have been urged to hang on to Dennis Bergkamp at any cost — by the man who brought him to Highbury.

Bruce Rioch, the Gunners boss who snapped up Bergy from Inter Milan eight years ago, insists the Dutch striker rivals Gianfranco Zola as the greatest foreign player in Premiership history.

And Rioch claims Arsenal would regret losing Bergkamp, just as Chelsea rued their decision to let Zola return to Cagliari.

The cash-strapped Gunners have offered Bergy just £14,000 a week — a 66 per cent pay cut — to stay in north London. Rioch said: “I really hope this situation can be sorted out amicably between Dennis and Arsenal because they will miss him if he leaves and he will miss the club too.

“He has won the Double twice with Arsenal, he’s been a great ambassador for the club and a great hero to the Arsenal public.

“He’d be a real loss if he goes — not just to Arsenal but to English football as a whole.

“Very few foreign players stay at clubs for as long as the eight years Dennis has spent at Arsenal.”

And Rioch insisted: “Dennis ranks alongside Zola as the greatest Premiership import and he is every bit as important to Arsenal as Zola was to Chelsea.

“You saw how Chelsea made a last-ditch bid to keep Zola because they realised they had made a mistake.”

Rioch signed Bergy from Inter for £7million in 1995 — when big-name foreign signings were still a rarity in the English game.

And Rioch, now hoping for a return to management after spells at Norwich and Wigan, claims Bergkamp had a huge influence on the careers of the club’s home-grown stars.

He added: “Signing a player of Dennis’ calibre was a real statement of intent for Arsenal and you should have seen the way it boosted players like Tony Adams, Ian Wright, Steve Bould and Ray Parlour.

“These were quality international footballers but when Dennis arrived, it gave them all extra motivation. It made them realise where the club was going.

“Dennis was a great foil for Ian Wright then and he’s a great foil for Thierry Henry now.

“At 34 he is still a major player, the sort who can help them go further in the Champions League — and that must be their next aim.”

The wrangling over Bergkamp’s future has been dragging on all summer, with agent Rob Jansen condemning Arsenal’s wage offer as “embarrassing”.

But Rioch admits that the great coup took just hours to seal.

He added: “When I signed Dennis, it only took an hour for me to persuade him Arsenal were the right club.

“I’ve always had the impression that he has never wanted to leave Arsenal since.

“It was a remarkably quick deal — I sat down with Dennis, his wife Henrietta, Rob Jansen, the Arsenal directors David Dein and Ken Friar and an Inter Milan official.

“Within an hour Dennis told me he wanted to sign and everything else was agreed that same day.”