Three Lions Team Strength Called 'Ridiculous' - Wales Manager Craig Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: England v Wales
Venue: Wembley Stadium, the capital Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
The Wales head coach says the English player pool is so impressive that matchmakers would not match them with the Welsh team.
Bellamy's men face England in a friendly at the national stadium on Thursday before their important World Cup qualifier against the Belgians next the following week.
National team coach Tuchel has left the such as Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish out of his squad for the match against Wales and their qualifying game against Latvia.
"The English have a incredible squad, like the French," Bellamy said.
"England have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. Were you a fight promoter, you wouldn't put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."
Bellamy says making sure Wales can face the talented rivals is a "key motivation".
Bellamy continued: "Our team don't go off market prices, but the reality is they have more than one team. They possess two, three, four and France and other nations are similarly stacked. England have many great players and that's a fact."
"A defender was ruled out injured the other day and there's only two dozen others to go! They have over sixty players. I wish Wales to be well-equipped like them."
These two nations most recently met at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, 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 Thomas Tuchel, a European and world club champion at the London club who has claimed league championships in Ligue 1 and his native Germany.
Bellamy was formerly an assistant at Anderlecht and Burnley to Vincent Kompany, who succeeded him at Bayern Munich.
"He's an incredible manager - his record speak for themselves," Bellamy added.
"I possess a degree of understanding because the club he left I am familiar with people who have joined. I gain a bit of an insight from that of how he works and it's very impressive. "
"His tactical detail is top level and I wanted to be facing such a challenge - see how we adjust because he adapts too. I will get to learn from it. I aspire to get to that level."
Welsh Team Selection
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), King (Everton).
Backline: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Spurs), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff), Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfield: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (Bournemouth), J. James (Leicester - loaned by Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (Wrexham), Cullen (Swansea City), Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - loaned by the Reds), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City).
