When a man has been immersed in football for as long as Arsène Wenger, and has witnessed from the inside just about every development and twist and foible the game has thrown up over the past 40 years, it is a rarity for him to be completely taken aback.

Wenger found himself in such a position over the summer as he was taking breakfast at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Johannesburg during his stint observing the World Cup. Throughout the tournament he had been struck by how people from all parts of the globe came up to him and proclaimed their deep passion and knowledge of the Premier League. One morning, a man from Kenya approached Wenger and asked if he could have his photograph taken alongside the Arsenal manager. They started some small talk. "You know," said the man, "in our country it is all Man United and Arsenal." Wenger offered an amiable reply. The Kenyan went on: "You know that when you lost against Man United, my cousin committed suicide after the game."

And there it was. Wenger was bewildered. "At first I thought he was joking," Wenger recalls. "The two guys who were with him said, 'No, it's true, we were at the funeral.' You could never imagine that. You could never think when you drive home from Islington that somebody, somewhere in the world, has committed suicide because you lost a game. How many are you responsible for?"

Wenger has always had a heightened sense of responsibility in his job. He feels deeply responsible for his players, who live in an environment that has never been so intense, put them under so much pressure. He feels responsible for his club, with such a distinguished history, who employ him to oversee a big project. He feels responsible for the supporters, and hates to see them disappointed. He feels responsible for the sport he loves to see in its purest form, even if some people wonder if his idealism is not doing him any favours in this modern, success-driven, money-orientated version of the game. So much responsibility, and yet he enjoys the job as much now as he ever did.

When Wenger arrived in England 14 years ago and made an immediate impact with a Premier League and FA Cup in his first full season, he was perceived as a refreshing new model of manager: liberal, flexible, and as open-minded as they come. Now the image is somewhat different. He is seen as stubborn and belligerent. Has he changed? Have the endless crusades toughened him up? Wenger is in a relaxed pre-season mood and the question amuses him. His answer is simple: perceptions nowadays are all down to whether or not you win.

"The fact we did not win the championship for five years means people say I am stubborn," he says. "If we had won in the last five years I would still be as flexible and open as before."

To give a more topical example, he elaborates on what he calls the "Rooney factor". During a week when England's most important footballer was plastered over the front pages of the tabloids for being, well, plastered in the early hours and in possession of a cigarette, Wenger argues the story is negative in the context of England's poor World Cup. "Imagine he does exactly the same but they won the World Cup," the Frenchman suggests. He proposes the story would then be an upbeat one. Good old Rooney. What a Jack the Lad. Look how he can be a winner and then go out and enjoy it. "That means you do not judge the guy, you judge first the result he has produced and then according to your disappointment, you judge the guy," Wenger muses.

He is not a fan of being judgmental largely on the basis of results. And he is wary of the harmful effect a results-obsessed football population is having on the game. The rebellious behaviour of the French team in South Africa, the jeering of England players, the fact Italy are trying to escape tensions by playing an international in London – all these vignettes reflect the mounting pressures in football. "We have created a monster," Wenger says.

"Rooney, today, cannot walk out there and do anything. Even if he needs to pee on the golf course. That is not normal any more. What is important about Wayne Rooney is that his attitude when he plays is 100% right. When he goes with Man United to West Bromwich Albion, he gives absolutely everything to win the game. So, he wants a little enjoyment, but what do you want? They're not monks. They have to behave properly but you have to understand that they are under a level of pressure which is higher than ever."

A new campaign, and the fresh optimism that comes with a blank page, gives top players and managers a tiny break from the cranked-up stress. Right now, aspirations are untainted by results. Nevertheless, it reveals a lot about what Wenger likes to call "financial doping" that Arsenal, Champions League regulars over the past decade and title winners three times under Wenger, are at longer odds to win the Premier League than a club that has never participated in the Champions League and last won the title in 1968. Wenger seems remarkably impervious to the money being spent by Manchester City. He is so committed to his chosen route of evolution, as opposed to chequebook management, he cannot be persuaded off course by billionaires or sovereign funds from China or anywhere else. "We have always finished above Man City," he says.

Retaining the services of the captain, Cesc Fábregas, despite the overbearing efforts of Barcelona to prise him away, has been a mighty boost for Wenger's project. "He was torn," the manager admits. "But I must say that during the whole period Cesc was remarkably respectful of Arsenal. He has never shown a lack of love for the club, and in the end we managed to hold on to him. What people do not realise is we can say no to anybody in the world because we are in a healthy financial situation. If we are £300m in debt, we cannot keep our best players. People have to understand that we were strong with the Fábregas case because we are well managed. We could afford to be strong, we can afford to say no to any number, because we just feel we want to keep our best players."

It is striking that Wenger has been so resolute about Fábregas's dilemma when he is not so far away from a crossroads himself. The manager's current contract expires at the end of the coming season, and, by his own admission, this is a particularly crucial decision in terms of his career direction. His wish is to finish his time in club management at Arsenal, but he is conscious that if there is another challenge to be had, now is the time to have it, before it is too late. "I am at the stage where if I extend my contract, it means I will finish my career at club level at Arsenal. If I go for a different challenge – I have been offered many challenges, you know – it has to be now. That's a decision I have to make. But basically, I have no desire to change from here."

If there is a hankering to try his hand elsewhere, it is because he has set himself the target of stepping away from the sharp end of club management at 65. "Alex Ferguson has one luck, he has fantastic health," says Wenger, who turns 61 in October. "I cannot see that my enthusiasm will drop, but I am not necessarily the same resistance physically as Alex Ferguson. At 65 I will certainly move to some different job, unless I still feel like I feel today."

One fundamental difference in approach between the two men is that the Manchester United boss is better at delegating, at taking a step back from the daily training routine, than his Arsenal counterpart. "I am in football because I love to breathe in the morning the scent of the grass and go out there and that's where I feel I'm still a little boy who plays football, you know?" Wenger says. "If it's just to sit behind a desk, I don't think I will be the same. What I enjoy is to see a player improve, to build a training session where you feel the team goes forward, and I believe that once I do not enjoy any more to go out on the pitch, then I will stop anyway because that is 90% of my pleasure. When I am on the phone until three o'clock in the morning, I must tell you frankly, I can delegate that easy." He should be so lucky.

A world away from the serenity and privacy of the training pitch, some of Arsenal's players last week visited the headquarters of Centrepoint. The club's charity of the season strikes a chord with Wenger. He is due to chair the homeless World Cup next year in Paris. Having come across players in the past who have got themselves in terrible predicaments, youngsters from Africa shipped to Europe by agents for trials that have not worked out, he appreciates how a fine line can push someone on to the streets, and how a helping hand is needed to pull them out.

"Homeless people cannot find a job because they are not shaved, not showered, everybody rejects them," Wenger says. "What is important for a guy who is homeless is to give him a target again in life, and to know that he gets up and has training, takes a shower and has a lunch. It gives him something to think about, that he gets a discipline in life again. We are involved deeply into charities every year. I am very proud of that." Last year Arsenal raised £800,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital. Wenger says: "It is not minimal. And as a foreigner, I certainly appreciate more than anybody else what the English clubs do, because that doesn't exist as much in other countries."

Wenger's mobile buzzes several times during an hour of rich and varied conversation. Without wishing to be impolite, he tries to steal a furtive glance at who is calling. There is still work to be done before the season opens. Wenger makes no secret of his need for another centre-half. And does he understand why people expect him to bring in a new goalkeeper? "Yes," he says, smiling ruefully.

As things stand, with Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny the only arrivals, it is reasonable to expect Arsenal to follow the pattern of the last few seasons, because not enough has changed to suggest the same old flaws of leadership, the experience to kill off games, and defensive instability will suddenly be eradicated.

"We have to make that final hurdle," Wenger says. "And that's linked with belief and experience and maturity. I think we can make the difference because the team is growing and this year will not be the same animal as last year. They will go into the big games and say, 'Come on, let's show who we are now'."

Wenger believes players become men at the age of 23. "That's when a player can handle to go to Stoke, to Bolton, play at home against Chelsea," says Wenger. "At 19, you know they will be great one day, but they are not completely ready. Now our generation are all 23, 24, 25, but they have already big experience. These guys have 50 Champions League games."

Even though his team can give the impression of not being nasty enough, or being too fragile sometimes, Wenger expects a tougher edge this term. Too nice? He will have none of it. "I would just like to say something," he interjects. "Fábregas is 23 years old, he has 54 caps, has just won the World Cup and he has won the European Championship. That gives you the answer. One of the nicest guys I have met is Gilberto Silva; it didn't stop him from winning championships and World Cups. It is the animal you are on the pitch." He is hopeful for a bit more beast from Robin van Persie and Thomas Vermaelen to rub off on all the rest.

It galls slightly that a welter of criticism is always a soft goal away, that success is measured only in silver. "I travelled at the World Cup a lot, you cannot imagine how popular Arsenal is in the world," he says. "It is massively important to me that we win titles, but there's something as well deeper and stronger in the way we play, the policy we have. The fact we do not only inject money is hugely respected all over the world."

More so outside England? "Much more, because in England it is a clan situation," Wenger says. "Tottenham supporters do not care about the Arsenal, how we do things. They just want to beat or be above us. Man United as well. But for people who are really lovers of how you should run football, we are hugely, unbelievably popular. At the World Cup I realised how popular the Premier League is and nobody in England realises it.

"There is a huge transformation in the game at the moment and we sit in England and still see our traditional Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea, but it is not like that anymore. Something has changed. England has to make a decision: Is the Premier League here to prepare the English national team to be stronger or is the Premier League here to be the strongest football product in the world? They try at the moment to combine the two, to do both." The threat of being caught in the middle and doing neither well is ominous. "Exactly," says Wenger. "That's the danger for English football at the moment.

"They have really to make a clear statement. Either say, 'OK, we want to protect the English national team, we kick the foreign players out', but you will not have the strongest league in the world. Or say, 'We go for the strongest league in the world' – they have the opportunity to do it, because all the big rich people in the world are buying the clubs. They can make something exceptional. That's why I believe the way we see football at Arsenal has an interesting part to play, because we are going to a new world in our game. That our way survives is important, for young players, for the education of players, is vital."

In this new world, against increasing odds funded by benefactors from countries such as Russia, the United States and possibly China and India, Wenger continues to believe that his old world dream of producing a team that grows up together still resonates.