England Squad Depth Called 'Absurd' - Wales Manager Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: Wales vs England
Venue: Wembley Stadium, the capital Date: October 9th Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
The Wales head coach states the English player pool is remarkable that matchmakers would not pair them with his Wales side.
Bellamy's men face England in a friendly at Wembley on this Thursday before their important qualifying match against the Belgians next Monday.
National team coach Thomas Tuchel has omitted the likes of Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish out of his squad for the Wales friendly and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.
"The English have a ridiculous team, similar to the French," the coach said.
"They have a transfer market value of £1.4bn, ours is 170 million. Were you a boxing promoter, you would not put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."
He explains ensuring the Welsh team can face the star-studded opponents is a "key motivation".
The Wales head coach continued: "We do not rely on market prices, but the simple fact is they have more than one team. They have two, three, four and the French and other nations are similarly stacked. England have many top talents and that's the honest truth."
"A defender was ruled out with injury the recently and there's only 24 more to go! They've got over sixty players. I wish us to be stacked like them."
These two nations most recently met at the 2022 tournament in the Middle East, when the English emerged as comfortable 3-0 winners in a fixture before Gareth Southgate's side reached the quarter-finals.
The new manager is Tuchel, a European and Fifa Club World Cup winner at the London club who has won domestic titles in France and his home country.
Bellamy was previously an coach at the Belgian side and the English club to Kompany, who succeeded him at Bayern Munich.
"He's an incredible coach - his achievements is proven," he noted.
"I have a degree of understanding because the team he departed I am familiar with people who have joined. I get a glimpse there of his methods and it's very impressive. "
"His strategic planning 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'd love to get to that level."
Wales Squad Selection
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (Everton).
Backline: Cabango (Swansea City), Dasilva (Coventry City), B. Davies (Spurs), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff), Chris Mepham (West Brom), Joe Rodon (Leeds United), Neco Williams (Forest).
Midfield: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), Brooks (Bournemouth), J. James (Leicester - loaned by Rennes), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Cullen (Swansea), Mark Harris (Oxford United), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from the Reds), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City).
