Three Lions Squad Strength Labelled 'Absurd' - Welsh Manager Craig Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: Wales vs England
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
The Wales head coach states the English player pool is so impressive that matchmakers wouldn't pair them against his Wales side.
The Welsh squad face England in a non-competitive match at Wembley on this Thursday before their important World Cup qualifier against Belgium next Monday.
National team coach Thomas Tuchel has omitted the likes of Bellingham, Foden and Jack Grealish from his selection for the match against Wales and their qualifying game against Latvia.
"England have a ridiculous team, like France," the coach remarked.
"England have a market valuation of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. If you were a boxing promoter, you would not put us together. That wouldn't be permitted."
Bellamy says making sure the Welsh team can face the talented opponents is a "driving force".
Bellamy continued: "We 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 many top talents and that's a fact."
"One right-back went out injured the recently and there are two dozen others to go! They've got over sixty footballers. I'd love us to be well-equipped similarly."
These two nations last faced each other at the 2022 tournament in the Middle East, when the English ran out comfortable victors in a group match before the previous England team reached the last eight.
The new manager is Tuchel, a Champions League and world club winner at the London club who has won domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his native Germany.
The Welsh boss was formerly an assistant at Anderlecht and Burnley to Kompany, who succeeded him at Bayern Munich.
"Tuchel's an incredible coach - his record speak for themselves," Bellamy added.
"I have some sort of insight because the team he departed I am familiar with people who have gone in there. I get a glimpse there of how he works and it's very impressive. "
"His strategic planning is elite and I wanted to be up against such a challenge - observe how you're going to adapt because he adapts too. I will get to learn from that. I aspire to get to such heights."
Wales Squad List
Keepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield Utd), Tom King (Everton).
Backline: Ben Cabango (Swansea), Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff), Chris Mepham (West Brom), Joe Rodon (Leeds), Neco Williams (Forest).
Midfielders: Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester City - loaned by Stade Rennais), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (Fulham), J. Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Forwards: Nathan Broadhead (Wrexham), Cullen (Swansea City), Mark Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - loaned by Liverpool), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff).
