In the space of just a couple of months, Daley Blind has gone from likely casualty of the Jose Mourinho regime to valued member of Manchester United’s first team.

Indeed, playing at centre-back and on the left side of United’s back four, the Dutch defender’s form has been so good this season that he recently made it into a Premier League starting XI of the season so far based on key statistics.

Making his mark in the division will clearly be a source of great pride for Blind who recently revealed in a Q&A session that he has been watching the Premier League since he was a kid. Asked who his idols were growing up, though, the United star did happen to mention two Arsenal players in his list of five.

The defender kept things close to home, to begin with when he was asked to name his Premier League idol – opting for three players who either hail from the Netherlands or played for United.

“(There are) a lot of great players when I think about the best players for United back then” he said. “Jaap Stam was there, Ruud Van Nistelrooy from Holland of course. David Beckham, I liked to see.”

And, as it turns out, two other big name Premier League stars who often gave United nightmares also make his list.

“Also from other teams,” he continued. “Players like Dennis Bergkamp at Arsenal with Thierry Henry, they were great to watch on television when you were younger.”

Bergkamp and Henry were often particularly painful thorns in United’s side during the heydey of the club’s rivalry with Arsenal leading up to and just after the turn of the Millennium.

Both strikers, though, were undoubtedly some of the best to ever grace English football and even the most ardent United supporter would surely begrudgingly admit they’d have happily have seen either player take up a spot in one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s squads.