England Team Depth Called 'Ridiculous' - Wales Boss Craig Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: England v Wales
Venue: London's Wembley, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST
The Wales head coach states the English squad depth is remarkable that a boxing promoter would not match them against the Welsh team.
The Welsh squad meet England in a friendly at Wembley on this Thursday before their important World Cup qualifier against Belgium next Monday.
England manager Thomas Tuchel has left the likes of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish out of his squad for the match against Wales and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.
"The English have a ridiculous squad, like the French," the coach remarked.
"They have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. If you were a boxing promoter, you would not match us up. That wouldn't be permitted."
Bellamy says making sure the Welsh team can face the talented rivals is a "key motivation".
The Wales head coach added: "Our team do not rely on values, but the reality is they have more than one team. They have two, three, four and France and others have the same level. They have loads of 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 have over sixty footballers. I wish us to be well-equipped similarly."
These two nations last faced each other at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, when England emerged as easy victors in a fixture before Gareth Southgate's side reached the quarter-finals.
The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a European and Fifa Club World Cup champion at Chelsea who has claimed league championships in France and his native Germany.
The Welsh boss was formerly an assistant at Anderlecht and the English club to Kompany, who succeeded him at the German giants.
"Tuchel's an incredible coach - his record speak for themselves," Bellamy noted.
"I possess some sort of understanding because the team he departed I am familiar with people who have gone in there. I gain a bit of an insight there of how he works and it's very impressive. "
"His strategic planning is elite and I aimed to be facing such a challenge - see how you're going to adapt because he will. I will get to learn from that. I'd love to get to such heights."
Welsh Squad Selection
Goalkeepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (the Toffees).
Backline: Cabango (Swansea), Dasilva (Coventry), B. Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff City), Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Rodon (Leeds United), Williams (Forest).
Midfield: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United), Brooks (the Cherries), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Sorba Thomas (Stoke), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Liam Cullen (Swansea City), Harris (Oxford United), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham - on loan from the Reds), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff).
