Three Lions Squad Depth Labelled 'Absurd' - Welsh Boss Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: Wales vs England
Venue: London's Wembley, the capital Date: October 9th Kick-off: 19:45 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 meet their neighbors in a friendly at the national stadium on this Thursday before their important qualifying match against the Belgians next Monday.
England manager Tuchel has left the such as Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish out of his selection for the Wales friendly and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.
"England have a incredible team, like the French," the coach remarked.
"They have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is 170 million. If you were a boxing promoter, you wouldn't match us up. It wouldn't be allowed."
Bellamy explains making sure Wales can face the talented opponents is a "key motivation".
Bellamy added: "We don't go off values, but the reality is they have more than a single lineup. They have multiple and the French and others are similarly stacked. They have loads of great players and that's a fact."
"A defender went out with injury the recently and there's only two dozen others to choose from! They have over sixty footballers. I wish us to be well-equipped similarly."
The neighbouring countries most recently met at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, when England emerged as comfortable 3-0 winners in a group match before Gareth Southgate's side reached the quarter-finals.
The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and world club winner at the London club who has claimed domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his home country.
The Welsh boss 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 incredible manager - his record is proven," Bellamy added.
"I possess a degree of insight because the team he departed I know people who have joined. I get a glimpse from that of his methods and it's very impressive. "
"His strategic planning is elite and I wanted to be facing such a challenge - observe how we adjust because he will. I will get to learn from that. I'd love to get to such heights."
Welsh Team List
Goalkeepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Davies (Sheffield Utd), Tom King (Everton).
Backline: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff), Lawlor (Cardiff City), Mepham (West Brom), Joe Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfielders: Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (the Cottagers), J. Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff City).
Attackers: Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Cullen (Swansea City), Harris (Oxford), Koumas (Birmingham - on loan from the Reds), Johnson (Spurs), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff).
