The German playmaker's departure from Real Madrid in a ?43million deal on transfer deadline day was something of a coup for the Gunners boss, who had been under fire for not spending big on star names to help bolster the squad's ambitions for a long-overdue Barclays Premier League title challenge.
The arrival of Holland forward Bergkamp from Inter Milan in 1995 heralded Arsenal's rise to becoming the dominant force in the English game, and Wenger accepts there are similarities between the two deals and what they mean for the club.
"It is comparable because they are similar players in the same department and they are big names who come from big teams," Wenger told Arsenal Player.
"You must say as well that Ozil was not perceived as being a failure at Real Madrid, he was perceived by the whole world as being a huge success at Real Madrid so of course the noise made by a signature like that is big."
Wenger continued: "They (people) were questioning my desire to spend money, maybe the ambition as well because today the ambition is linked with the amount of money you spend.
"We are very ambitious, we went through a few years where we had less resources and there is no shame to say that because we have built a new stadium. Now we are back with the ambition as big as everybody else, if not bigger."
Madrid's decision to let Ozil go was greeted by disbelief from his former team-mates at the Bernabeu, with the midfielder no longer central to the plans of manager Carlo Ancelotti following the world-record signing of Gareth Bale from Tottenham.
Wenger is in no doubt the Germany international can take his game to another level with Arsenal.
He told a press conference: "Ozil is already a great player. There is room now between 25 and 30 for him to become a dominant player and to make a step up from that.
Source: PA
Source: PA