England Team Strength Labelled 'Ridiculous' - Welsh Manager Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: England v Wales
Venue: Wembley Stadium, the capital Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
The Wales head coach says England's player pool is so impressive that matchmakers would not match them with his Wales side.
The Welsh squad face their neighbors in a friendly at the national stadium on this Thursday before their important World Cup qualifier against the Belgians next Monday.
England manager Thomas Tuchel has omitted the such as Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish from his squad for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against Latvia.
"The English have a incredible team, similar to France," Bellamy remarked.
"They have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. Were you a fight promoter, you would not match us up. That wouldn't be permitted."
Bellamy explains ensuring Wales can compete with the talented opponents is a "driving force".
The Wales head coach added: "Our team don't go off market prices, but the simple fact is they have more than a single lineup. They possess multiple and the French and others are similarly stacked. They have many top talents and that's the honest truth."
"One right-back was ruled out with injury the recently and there's only 24 more to choose from! They have over sixty footballers. I'd love Wales to be stacked similarly."
The neighbouring countries last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when the English emerged as easy 3-0 winners in a group match before Gareth Southgate's side reached the quarter-finals.
Southgate's successor is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup winner at Chelsea who has won domestic titles in France and his home country.
Bellamy was previously an coach at Anderlecht and Burnley to Kompany, who succeeded Tuchel at the German giants.
"He's an incredible coach - his achievements is proven," Bellamy noted.
"I have some sort of insight because the team he departed I know people who have gone in there. I gain a glimpse from that of how he works and it's very impressive. "
"His tactical detail is top level and I wanted to be up against such a challenge - see how we adjust because he will. I will get to learn from that. I aspire to get to that level."
Wales Team Selection
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds), Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (Everton).
Backline: Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry), B. Davies (Spurs), Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff), Chris Mepham (West Brom), Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Forest).
Midfield: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester - on loan from Stade Rennais), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (Fulham), J. Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Mark Harris (Oxford), Koumas (Birmingham City - loaned by Liverpool), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff City).
