Aaron Ramsey has been talking candidly and with great maturity, covering everything from endangered animals in Africa to his belief that Arsenal can be serial winners again, when the conversation turns to Piers Morgan and whether the Welshman has ever bumped into the man who described him as "a complete and utter liability" 18 months ago. After a long pause Ramsey replies: "Who's Piers Morgan?"

It is a brilliant put down, delivered with a smile and a twinkle in his eye rather than any malice. Ramsey is not the sort of person to become embroiled in a war of words. He is a class act on and off the field, an intelligent and humble young man who likes nothing more than returning to Wales to spend time with friends and family in his hometown of Caerphilly, where he is as comfortable walking round the local supermarket as he is bossing Arsenal's midfield.

Those close to Ramsey say that he is still the same boy from the Rhymney Valley that joined Arsenal from Cardiff for £5m as a 17-year-old in 2008, even if he is now recognised as one of the most accomplished midfielders in the Premier League and is no longer spotted on the streets of south Wales in a lime-green Ford Fiesta, complete with a black and white chequered roof.

"Don't remind me of that," Ramsey says laughing, before dismissing out of hand the idea that he would ever have taken the Fiesta into Arsenal's training ground. "I would never have lived it down if I'd have done that. I had to get rid of that straight away. Even when I first got it, my mum said: 'You don't really like that, do you?' She knew that it was a mistake."

There have been a few upgrades since. Ramsey is now the owner of a Mercedes SLS, a two-seater sportscar that leaves little change from £200,000. Cars, Ramsey admits, are his "one guilty pleasure". Otherwise, there is absolutely nothing flash about this quietly spoken yet fiercely determined 23-year-old, who is soon to become a married man.

Ramsey likes to keep a low profile, apart from on the pitch, which is where he comes to life. It is no surprise in light of his exceptional form for Arsenal during the first half of this season that his recent return to the side has coincided with an improved run of results. We will never know how much difference Ramsey would have made to Arsenal's title hopes had he not spent more than three months out with a thigh injury. All that can be said for certain is that he was sorely missed. Arsenal, as Arsène Wenger acknowledged in the match programme on Monday night, are a far better team with Ramsey in their ranks. "Aaron gives us great power," Wenger wrote, before going on to highlight the significance of the midfielder's surging box-to-box runs and how well his attributes complement Mesut Özil's dextrous touches.

It must have been hugely encouraging for Ramsey to read Wenger's words before he went out on to the pitch against Newcastle. "I didn't see it, I flick through the first few pages of the programme," Ramsey says, chuckling as it dawns upon him that he has just admitted he rarely looks at what the manager writes.

One thing is certain: Ramsey has spent plenty of time over the past six years listening to what Wenger has to say. The Arsenal manager has been a major influence on Ramsey's career, through the good times and the bad.

When Ramsey was fighting the mental demons that followed his comeback from fracturing his fibula and tibia at Stoke four years ago, and the naysayers, including some Arsenal fans, were losing patience, Wenger stayed loyal and was remarkably supportive. "The manager had loads of chats with me about it and always said: 'Never let it get to you, because I know what you can do,'" Ramsey says. "I'm grateful for what he's done for me and for the faith that he's had in me.

"Even when I was injured he gave me a new contract. Through the criticism he played me. He's always believed in me and I can't thank him enough for that. I owe a lot to him and hopefully I've delivered some of that back this season."

While it hardly comes as a surprise that Wenger is better qualified to weigh up the potential of a footballer than a former Britain's Got Talent judge, he never could have imagined that Ramsey would prove to be such a revelation in front of goal this season. By the first week in November Ramsey had scored 11 times for Arsenal, as many as he had registered across the previous five years. He was exhilarating to watch and everyone wanted to know the secret behind his transformation.

Ramsey's own view is that there is more than one answer. He traces the start of the upturn back to the second half of last season, when he finally overcame the psychological trauma of that horrible injury at Stoke. "That's the point when I was 100% back mentally, 100% into tackles, no hesitation, just clear again and free," he says.

"I realised that I was getting stuck back in again: 'I'm winning the ball back, I'm feeling good out on the pitch again. I'm happy out there.' And then I carried that on, worked on a few things in pre-season, like composure in front of goal and taking longer instead of rushing things. And I just think you always have to believe in yourself – I always knew it was there."

The gratitude Ramsey feels towards Wenger was one of the reasons behind his decision in March to commit his long-term future to Arsenal by signing an improved five-year contract that reflected his growing status at the club and burgeoning reputation in European football. Another factor was that Ramsey genuinely thinks Arsenal are on the verge of something special. "I believe this team has what it takes to win things," he says. "I'm happy here, I feel we have a team that can be successful and I want to be part of that."

While Ramsey is a modest man – he looks almost embarrassed when he listens to some of the things said and written about him this season – he is under no illusions that he has become an influential figure for Arsenal, someone his team-mates and manager depend on. "I feel like an important part of the team and that's always a nice feeling to have," he says. "There is responsibility as well, and I'm comfortable with that, it makes you feel good about yourself."

He would feel better still if Arsenal, who host West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, remained in the title race. Arsenal spent 17 weeks enjoying the view from the top of the Premier League before losing their way and slipping to fourth. Injuries took their toll but, when the end-of-season analysis is made, the spotlight will focus on the damage inflicted during those crushing defeats at Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, during which Arsenal conceded 17 goals.

"It's hard enough going to those places anyway, never mind the fact that we went one or two goals down early on in the game," Ramsey says. "They were the games that really cost us. You take those three matches away and we've been really solid as a team. So that's what we need to build on next season, stay in the games early on in the first half, when maybe we've been a bit naive."

In the wake of the 6-0 drubbing at Stamford Bridge in March and a 2-2 home draw with Swansea three days later, Paul Scholes offered a withering assessment of Arsenal. The former Manchester United midfielder claimed that Arsenal were a "million miles" away from the title and said "there are no leaders" at the club. What did Ramsey make of those comments?

"I don't know if it was said because Arsenal had just suffered a bad result but that's up to him. It's his opinion and there's not much you can say is there, because there are things he's won and look at what he's achieved in his career. What I would say is that there are leaders in this team, there are people that are hungry to win and we're still a really young team. If we manage to keep everybody fit, we'll have a great opportunity next season. We showed that with what we achieved to February, when we were top of the league until then. So we're close. Maybe we just need to win one thing to go on and be successful for five or 10 years."

If that is the case, the FA Cup final against Hull City on 17 May has the potential to be the catalyst for an exciting era. "That could be massive," Ramsey says. "In terms of us players, hardly anyone has won anything in the dressing room, so that will just give us, hopefully – all being well and we do win the FA Cup – the hunger to realise what it is like to win a trophy and the feeling that you get afterwards, which will drive us on."

Ramsey loves Arsenal. He lives and breathes the club and has no plans to go elsewhere. At the same time he could be forgiven for occasionally glancing in the direction of his Wales team-mate Gareth Bale, who is flourishing in Spain, and wondering about the possibility of playing overseas, for a club such as Real Madrid or Barcelona, at some point in his career. "I have unfinished business at Arsenal first but maybe one day, when the time is right, I'd fancy that," Ramsey says. "One of those two teams is quite mouthwatering."

Outside football, he has other projects that are coming together. The interview takes place at The Shire London, where Ramsey is hosting his first charity golf day, in aid of Parkinson's disease. He has thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it is something that he plans to do much more of over the coming months and years by launching the Aaron Ramsey Foundation. "I'm lucky and blessed to be in the position that I'm able to do things like this, to give back to some of the charities that mean a lot to me," he says.

"Unfortunately we lost my uncle a few years ago to the complications that come with Parkinson's. He was fit and healthy and really active and seeing how quickly your health deteriorates when you're diagnosed with Parkinson's was really upsetting and hard to take.

"I want to support other charities as well, maybe pick a different one every year which means something to me. For example, I've always had a love for animals. Going on safari was one of the things that I always wanted to do. I managed to do it last year, when I went to Kenya, to the Masai Mara, with my Dad, my brother and my fiancée. It was an amazing experience.

"It will be a shame if poaching stops people from having the opportunity to do that sort of trip in the future. Being there last summer made you even more mad and upset that people are doing these things. There are so many animals which are endangered and yet people are still poaching and the demand for ivory is still high. I would really like to have gone back to Kenya again this year but I've got other things planned."

The last remark is accompanied with a smile. Ramsey is getting married next month to Colleen Rowlands, his childhood sweetheart, and he dare not postpone things any longer. "We went to the same school together, so it's been a long time and she'll probably say that the wedding is long overdue," Ramsey says, laughing. "But we're both happy and looking forward to the next chapter of our lives."