Three Lions Team Depth Called 'Absurd' - Wales Boss Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: England v Wales
Venue: Wembley Stadium, the capital Date: October 9th Kick-off: 19:45 BST
Craig Bellamy states England's player pool is remarkable that matchmakers wouldn't match them against his Wales side.
Bellamy's men face England in a non-competitive match 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 Jude Bellingham, Foden and Grealish out of his selection for the Wales friendly and their qualifying game against Latvia.
"The English have a ridiculous squad, like the French," Bellamy remarked.
"England have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is 170 million. If you were a boxing promoter, you would not put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."
He says ensuring Wales can face the talented rivals is a "driving force".
Bellamy continued: "Our team don't go off market prices, but the simple fact is they don't just have one team. They have two, three, four and the French and other nations have the same level. They have loads of top talents and that's a fact."
"A defender went out with injury the recently and there's only two dozen others to choose from! They have over sixty footballers. I'd love Wales to be stacked similarly."
These two nations last faced each other at the 2022 tournament in the Middle East, when England emerged as easy victors in a group match before the previous England team made it to the quarter-finals.
Southgate's successor is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup winner at the London club who has won domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his native Germany.
The Welsh boss was previously an coach at the Belgian side and the English club to Vincent Kompany, who replaced him at Bayern Munich.
"He's an incredible manager - his achievements speak for themselves," Bellamy added.
"I possess some sort of insight because the team he departed I am familiar with individuals who have joined. I get a bit of an insight there of his methods and it's remarkable. "
"His strategic planning is top level and I wanted to be up against that - see how we adjust because he will. I will get to learn from it. I aspire to reach that level."
Wales Team List
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds), Davies (Sheffield United), King (Everton).
Defenders: Cabango (Swansea), Dasilva (Coventry City), B. Davies (Spurs), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff City), Chris Mepham (West Brom), Joe Rodon (Leeds United), Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfielders: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Rennes), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (Fulham), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff City).
Attackers: Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Mark Harris (Oxford United), Koumas (Birmingham - on loan from the Reds), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff).
