England Team Depth Labelled 'Ridiculous' - Wales Boss Craig Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: Wales vs England
Venue: London's Wembley, the capital Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
The Wales head coach says the English player pool is remarkable that a boxing promoter would not match them with his Wales side.
Bellamy's men face their neighbors in a friendly at Wembley on Thursday before their important qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.
National team coach Tuchel has omitted the likes of Jude Bellingham, Foden and Jack Grealish out of his squad for the Wales friendly and their qualifying game against Latvia.
"The English have a incredible team, like France," Bellamy said.
"England have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, Wales' is £170m. If you were a boxing promoter, you wouldn't match us up. That wouldn't be permitted."
He says making sure Wales can face the star-studded opponents is a "key motivation".
The Wales head coach continued: "Our team do not rely on values, but the reality is they have more than a single lineup. They have multiple and France and others have the same level. England have loads of great players and that's a fact."
"A defender was ruled out with injury the recently and there are two dozen others to go! They have 60-odd players. I wish Wales to be well-equipped like them."
These two nations most recently met at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when the English emerged as easy victors in a group match before the previous England team made it to the last eight.
The new manager is Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup champion at Chelsea who has claimed league championships in France and his native Germany.
Bellamy was previously an assistant at the Belgian side and the English club to Vincent Kompany, who succeeded Tuchel at the German giants.
"Tuchel's an outstanding coach - his record speak for themselves," he noted.
"I possess some sort of insight because the team he departed I know people who have joined. I gain a glimpse from that of his methods and it's remarkable. "
"His strategic planning is top level and I aimed to be up against that - see how you're going to adapt because he will. I can learn from it. I aspire to reach that level."
Welsh Squad List
Keepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds United), Davies (Sheffield Utd), King (Everton).
Defenders: Cabango (Swansea), Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Spurs), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Rodon (Leeds United), Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfielders: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (the Cherries), J. James (Leicester City - on loan from Stade Rennais), Sheehan (Bolton), Thomas (Stoke), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff City).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford), Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from Liverpool), Brennan Johnson (Spurs), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City).