England Team Strength Labelled 'Absurd' - Wales Boss Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: England v Wales
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST
Craig Bellamy says the English player pool is remarkable that matchmakers wouldn't match them against the Welsh team.
The Welsh squad meet their neighbors in a non-competitive match at Wembley on Thursday before their important qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.
National team coach Tuchel has left the such as Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish out of his selection for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against Latvia.
"England have a ridiculous squad, like France," Bellamy said.
"England have a market valuation of £1.4bn, Wales' is £170m. If you were a fight promoter, you would not put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."
Bellamy says ensuring Wales can compete with the star-studded rivals is a "driving force".
The Wales head coach added: "Our team don't go off values, but the simple fact is England have more than one team. They have two, three, four and the French and others have the same level. They have many great players and that's the honest truth."
"One right-back went out with injury the recently and there's only two dozen others to go! They've got 60-odd players. I wish Wales to be well-equipped similarly."
The neighbouring countries last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when England ran out comfortable victors in a group match before the previous England team reached the quarter-finals.
The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and world club champion at the London club who has claimed domestic titles in France and his home country.
The Welsh boss was formerly an coach at Anderlecht and Burnley to Vincent Kompany, who replaced Tuchel at Bayern Munich.
"Tuchel's an incredible manager - his achievements speak for themselves," Bellamy noted.
"I have a degree of understanding because the club he left I know individuals who have gone in there. I get a bit of an insight there of his methods and it's remarkable. "
"His tactical detail is elite and I aimed to be up against such a challenge - see how we adjust because he adapts too. I will get to learn from it. I aspire to get to that level."
Wales Squad List
Keepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield Utd), Tom King (Everton).
Backline: Cabango (Swansea City), Dasilva (Coventry), B. Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff City), Chris Mepham (West Brom), Rodon (Leeds United), Williams (Forest).
Midfielders: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (the Cherries), J. James (Leicester City - on loan from Stade Rennais), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), J. Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham - loaned by Liverpool), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff).
