Three Lions Team Depth Called 'Absurd' - Wales Manager Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: England v Wales
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: October 9th Kick-off: 19:45 BST
The Wales head coach says England's player pool is remarkable that a boxing promoter would not match them against his Wales side.
The Welsh squad meet their neighbors in a non-competitive match at Wembley on this Thursday before their important World Cup qualifier against Belgium next the following week.
England manager Tuchel has omitted the such as Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish out of his selection for the Wales friendly and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.
"England have a incredible team, like the French," the coach said.
"England have a transfer market value of £1.4bn, Wales' is £170m. If you were a boxing promoter, you wouldn't match us up. It wouldn't be allowed."
Bellamy says making sure the Welsh team can face the star-studded opponents is a "driving force".
Bellamy continued: "Our team don't go off values, but the reality is England have more than a single lineup. They possess two, three, four and the French and other nations have the same level. They have loads of top talents and that's the honest truth."
"One right-back was ruled out injured the other day and there are 24 more to go! They've got 60-odd footballers. I'd love Wales to be well-equipped similarly."
These two nations most recently met at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when the English ran out easy 3-0 winners in a fixture before the previous England team made it to the quarter-finals.
The new manager is Tuchel, a Champions League and world club champion at Chelsea who has won domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his home country.
Bellamy was previously an coach at the Belgian side and the English club to Vincent Kompany, who replaced him at Bayern Munich.
"He's an outstanding coach - his achievements speak for themselves," he noted.
"I possess some sort of understanding because the club he left I am familiar with individuals who have joined. I get a glimpse from that of his methods and it's very impressive. "
"His strategic planning is top level and I wanted to be up against that - observe how you're going to adapt because he will. I will get to learn from it. I aspire to get to that level."
Wales Squad Selection
Keepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds), Davies (Sheffield Utd), King (Everton).
Defenders: Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry), Ben Davies (Spurs), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfielders: Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (the Cherries), Jordan James (Leicester - loaned by Stade Rennais), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Cullen (Swansea City), Mark Harris (Oxford United), Koumas (Birmingham City - loaned by the Reds), Brennan Johnson (Spurs), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff).
