Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger maintains he will continue to work in the game as long as his health allows. Wenger, 60, recently penned a new deal to keep him at Emirates Stadium until 2014.

By then the Frenchman, who has revolutionised the north London club since arriving in September 1996, may well have decided enough is enough. Wenger, who would not be short of suitors, revealed he would like to continue his habit of working with emerging talent, even if that was away from a top club.

Speaking to L’Equipe, Wenger said: “I will coach for as long as I am healthy enough. I could finish coaching young players, but not necessarily at professional level. I am planning to remain with Arsenal until the end of my new contract, but at my age I am forced to consider the short term.

Wenger admits a return home would perhaps be appealing one day, for the right project. “In France, there is the club who are close to my heart, Strasbourg,” he said. (FIFA)

So there you have it. Clearly Arsene Wenger is something of a romantic, longing to hang up his managerial gloves (should that maybe be a pen or piece of chalk rather than gloves?) in the city of his birth. Take into account that RC Strasbourg, the club the Emirates boss supported as a boy and had a brief playing career with, are currently sitting not so pretty in the third tier of French football, known as the Championnat National.

Perhaps the 60 year old feels he could help the club return to glory, the club did after all win the Ligue 1 title not so long ago in 1979 and have suffered an ignominious fall from grace. Clearly Wenger still feels he has a lot to still to do as Gunners boss and was quick to reiterate his love of the north London club.

“If I am still here it will not be because of a lack of offers from clubs overseas, but because I really appreciate what I have been given here. I am fortunate to work with complete freedom.”