England Team Depth Labelled 'Absurd' - Welsh Boss Craig Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: England v Wales
Venue: Wembley Stadium, the capital Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST
The Wales head coach says the English player pool is remarkable that a boxing promoter would not pair them against his Wales side.
The Welsh squad meet their neighbors in a friendly at Wembley on this Thursday before their crucial qualifying match against the Belgians next the following week.
National team coach Thomas Tuchel has omitted the likes of Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish out of his selection for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against the Latvian team.
"The English have a ridiculous team, like France," the coach said.
"England have a market valuation of 1.4 billion pounds, Wales' is £170m. If you were a boxing promoter, you would not match us up. It wouldn't be allowed."
Bellamy says making sure the Welsh team can compete with the star-studded rivals is a "driving force".
The Wales head coach added: "Our team don't go off market prices, but the reality is they have more than a single lineup. They have two, three, four and the French and others are similarly stacked. They have loads of great players and that's the honest truth."
"A defender went out with injury the recently and there are 24 more to go! They've got over sixty footballers. I'd love Wales to be well-equipped similarly."
The neighbouring countries most recently met at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when England ran out easy 3-0 winners in a group match before the previous England team reached the last eight.
The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a European and Fifa Club World Cup winner at the London club who has claimed domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his home country.
Bellamy was previously an assistant at the Belgian side and Burnley to Kompany, who replaced Tuchel at the German giants.
"He's an incredible coach - his record speak for themselves," Bellamy added.
"I have a degree of insight because the team he departed I know people who have joined. I gain a bit of an insight there of how he works and it's remarkable. "
"His strategic planning is top level and I wanted to be facing such a challenge - see how we adjust because he adapts too. I can learn from that. I'd love to get to that level."
Welsh Squad Selection
Goalkeepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (Everton).
Backline: Ben Cabango (Swansea), Dasilva (Coventry City), B. Davies (Spurs), Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Brom), Rodon (Leeds United), Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfield: Ampadu (Leeds), Brooks (the Cherries), J. James (Leicester City - on loan from Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Liam Cullen (Swansea City), Harris (Oxford), Koumas (Birmingham - on loan from the Reds), Brennan Johnson (Spurs), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff).
