Three Lions Squad Strength Called 'Absurd' - 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
Craig Bellamy states 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 non-competitive match at Wembley on this Thursday before their crucial qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.
England manager Tuchel has omitted the likes of Bellingham, Foden and Grealish out of his squad for the match against Wales and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.
"England have a ridiculous team, like France," Bellamy said.
"England have a market valuation of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is 170 million. Were you a fight promoter, you would not put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."
Bellamy says ensuring Wales can compete with the talented opponents is a "key motivation".
The Wales head coach continued: "We do not rely on market prices, but the reality is they have more than a single lineup. They have multiple and France and others are similarly stacked. They have loads of great players and that's the honest truth."
"A defender was ruled out with injury the other day and there are 24 more to go! They've got over sixty footballers. I wish Wales to be stacked similarly."
The neighbouring countries last faced each other at the 2022 tournament in the Middle East, when the English emerged as easy victors in a group match before Gareth Southgate's side reached the quarter-finals.
The new manager is Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup winner at Chelsea who has won domestic titles 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.
"Tuchel's an incredible coach - his record is proven," Bellamy added.
"I possess a degree of insight because the team he departed I know individuals who have joined. I gain a bit of an insight from that of his methods and it's very impressive. "
"His strategic planning is elite and I aimed to be facing that - observe how you're going to adapt because he adapts too. I will get to learn from it. I'd love to reach such heights."
Wales Team List
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield Utd), King (the Toffees).
Defenders: Cabango (Swansea), Dasilva (Coventry City), B. Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Rodon (Leeds), Neco Williams (Forest).
Midfielders: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (the Cherries), J. James (Leicester - loaned by Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke), H. Wilson (Fulham), J. Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff City).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (Wrexham), Cullen (Swansea), Mark Harris (Oxford United), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from Liverpool), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff City).
