Arsene Wenger is in unknown territory as he prepares to leave the day-to-day of a game he loves so much

For all the intrigue about what went on at Arsenal to lead to Arsene Wenger’s departure, and who exactly the club will appoint to replace him, perhaps the most interesting human question in all this regards what is actually going on in this football legend’s head. And that does not relate to any resentment over whether he wants to stay. It is instead about how this football man - in the most fundamental meaning of the term, as much as the most grandiose meaning - is dealing with all of this.

This is after all a man who after the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United said this of himself: “I have worked at a top level for 35 years without any interruption and I think I am the only one who has done that. I am in unknown territory, will I take a break?”

Would he want to take a break? Those who know Wenger best say football really does consume his entire life, and he would genuinely be found watching random games from any league possible in the time other people would spend watching a Netflix series. The only interest that is said to intrude on that is current affairs. As he once said of his great friend Sir Alex Ferguson, “he has his horses” - referencing the fact he does not have such outside past-times.

This is very much - to use Sir Matt Busby’s term - “a man of the grass”. Wenger loves the day-to-day of football too much.

The love-in at Old Trafford must have involved a few contrasting feelings, then. While Wenger undeniably appreciated what he described as a “very classy” gesture from Manchester United, it was difficult not to wonder whether there was the smallest element of resentment at having to go through all this. This is after all evidently not a man who wants to yet be recognised in that way, or be talked of in the past tense. He wants to get on with his work, work - and an idea - that he hoped would eventually be vindicated, even if the evidence against that desire ever coming true increased year after year.

That could be sensed when he was asked whether he could enjoy an occasion like this, or it is still just a game.

“It is a match, a result,” Wenger said. “I am programmed to try and win football games but I don’t think that changes. I am disappointed. I am thankful to Man United because they had a nice gesture. It is the first time I get a trophy before a game. It is very classy from them.”

But ultimately disappointed at the basics of the football. That overrode everything else.

There was then when he was asked about Old Trafford itself, and whether he had any particular memories of the place. This was just as telling, as Wenger clearly wasn’t in the mood to be wistful about the stadium either.

“That is too quick for me to think about, certainly when we won the championship. Unfortunately in my job, you remember much better the defeats and I have some painful memories.”

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That he said this after the most painful type of defeats, losing to a stoppage-time goal, was indicative. The day-to-day of the job remains all that matters to him, even as everyone else is already looking to the future, and everyone wants him to ruminate on his past.

It’s impossible not to have some sympathy for a man in such a situation, even if it’s simultaneously impossible not think Arsenal need change.

That he himself used the words “unknown territory” was also pointed. This is a man who hasn’t spent more than a close-season outside a day-to-day football job in over three decades. That will require quite the adjustment.

Some close to Wenger feel he is “down” about this prospect, although his chipper mood despite the defeat - and inevitably charming press conference - indicate his supreme resilience in another way.

There was also one big moment on the day when he looked genuinely, visibly overjoyed. That was when he saw Sir Alex Ferguson again. Afterwards, it was if he just couldn’t wait to have a chat with him.

“I now just want to have a glass of red wine with Sir Alex… because it is always good wine!”

It is now a great friendship, with the rivalry it stemmed from a reminder of why he just loves this job so much.