Gary Neville must keep faith in what he is doing... we live in an environment with quick definite opinions, advises Arsene Wenger

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Arsene Wenger has advised Gary Neville to keep faith in his knowledge despite a difficult start to his managerial career.

Neville is under pressure after only two months in charge of Valencia in Spain, where he has yet to win a league game and lost 7-0 at Barcelona in the cup on Wednesday.

‘Experience plays a big part when you don’t start well,’ said Wenger. ‘First of all, you have no credibility through your history because you haven’t shown you can do it before.

Arsene Wenger has advised Gary Neville to keep faith in his knowledge despite a difficult start at Valencia

Wenger has come through several difficult periods during his time as Arsenal manager in the past 19 years

‘The reputation of a big player gets you a big club early. You gain a few years. You do not start at Fleetwood when you are Pep Guardiola, you start at Barcelona.

‘When you are not a big name you have first to battle. That is a disadvantage because you do not start as high. But you learn your job. I started with youth teams at the age of 33, which people forget.

‘There was no fitness coach, no ‘keeper coach, just me and the team. You have to learn your job. There is no better way but things have changed.’

Neville moved to Sky Sports when his glittering playing career ended five years ago. He has been on England’s coaching team since 2012, but this is his first job as a manager.

The former Sky pundit is yet to win a league game in eight attempts since taking charge in early December

Neville was criticised by the Spanish media after his side's embarrassing performance at the Nou Camp

‘My advice is to keep faith in what he is doing,’ said Wenger. ‘He has not lost his knowledge overnight. That is what it is about. But not all our faith depends only on us. We live in an environment with very quick, sharp and definite opinions.’

Wenger resisted a comment on Neville’s own reputation for ‘quick, sharp and definite opinions’, but the irony was not lost on him. The job is much harder from the touchline than the TV studio.

As a Sky pundit, Neville criticised Arsenal’s preparation earlier this season and claimed Wenger must be either ‘naïve or arrogant’ for failing to sign a striker in the summer.

Wenger and Neville clashed in the 2005 FA Cup final but the Frenchman had kind words for the new manager

Both Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi scored hat-tricks in the extraordinary 7-0 victory over Valencia this week

‘You will have to ask him if it is tougher than he expected,’ Wenger added.

Still there is no new striker but Danny Welbeck made his return after a knee injury, on Friday playing an hour for the Under 21s as they beat Brighton.

It was his first appearance after nine months out, although Wenger admits it may be three weeks before he is in first-team contention.

Danny Welbeck made his return after a lay-off on Friday playing an hour for the Under 21s against Brighton

Welbeck will not be in contention to face Bournemouth at the weekend but he is closing in on a first-team return

Arsenal are at Bournemouth on Sunday as they try to get their title bid back on track after four games without a win.

On the subject of transfers, Wenger predicted transfer fees will soon break the £100m barrier with prices inflated by cash-rich Chinese clubs and the £8billion Premier League TV deal which takes effect this year.

‘China looks to have the financial power to move a whole league of players from Europe to China,’ he said. ‘It is a consequence of economic power and they have that.

‘Will they sustain their desire? Remember Japan tried to do it but slowed down. I don’t know how deep the desire in China is but if there’s a strong political desire we should worry.

‘I believe that inflation is anyway on our shores with the next TV deal. It will move prices up again. I am sure that soon the £100m target will be easy to reach.’