England Squad Depth Called 'Absurd' - Welsh Boss Craig Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: Wales vs England
Venue: London's Wembley, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST
The Wales head coach states the English player pool is remarkable that matchmakers wouldn't match them against the Welsh team.
Bellamy's men face their neighbors in a non-competitive match at the national stadium on this Thursday before their crucial qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.
National team coach Thomas Tuchel has left the likes of Jude Bellingham, Foden and Grealish from his squad for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against the Latvian team.
"England have a ridiculous team, similar to the French," Bellamy remarked.
"England have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, Wales' is ÂŁ170m. Were you a boxing promoter, you wouldn't match us up. That wouldn't be permitted."
Bellamy says making sure the Welsh team can compete with the star-studded opponents is a "key motivation".
Bellamy continued: "We don't go off values, but the reality is England don't just have one team. They possess two, three, four and the French and others are similarly stacked. England have many top talents and that's the honest truth."
"A defender was ruled out with injury the other day and there's only two dozen others to choose from! They've got over sixty players. I'd love Wales to be well-equipped similarly."
These two nations most recently met at the 2022 tournament in the Middle East, when the English emerged as easy 3-0 winners in a fixture before the previous England team made it to the last eight.
The new manager is Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup champion at the London club who has claimed league championships in France and his native Germany.
The Welsh boss was previously an assistant at Anderlecht and Burnley to Vincent Kompany, who replaced him at the German giants.
"Tuchel's an outstanding manager - his achievements is proven," he added.
"I have some sort of insight because the club he left I am familiar with people who have joined. I gain a bit of an insight from that of his methods and it's remarkable. "
"His strategic planning is elite and I aimed to be up against such a challenge - see how you're going to adapt because he adapts too. I will get to learn from that. I'd love to get to such heights."
Wales Squad Selection
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (Everton).
Backline: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Kpakio (Cardiff), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff), Chris Mepham (West Brom), Joe Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfield: Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester - on loan from Stade Rennais), Sheehan (Bolton), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (Fulham), J. Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff City).
Attackers: Broadhead (Wrexham), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford), Koumas (Birmingham - on loan from Liverpool), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City).
