England Squad Depth Called 'Absurd' - Welsh Manager Craig Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: England v Wales
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
The Wales head coach says the English squad depth is so impressive that a boxing promoter would not match them with the Welsh team.
The Welsh squad face their neighbors in a non-competitive match at Wembley on Thursday before their important qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.
England manager Tuchel has left the such as Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish out of his selection for the Wales friendly and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.
"The English have a incredible team, like the French," the coach said.
"They have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. Were you a boxing promoter, you would not put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."
He says ensuring the Welsh team can face the star-studded opponents is a "driving force".
The Wales head coach continued: "We do not rely on values, but the reality is they don't just have one team. They possess two, three, four and France and others are similarly stacked. They have many great players and that's a fact."
"A defender went out with injury the other day and there are two dozen others to go! They have 60-odd players. I wish Wales to be well-equipped similarly."
The neighbouring countries most recently met at the 2022 tournament in the Middle East, when England ran out comfortable victors in a fixture before the previous England team made it to the quarter-finals.
Southgate's successor is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup winner at the London club who has claimed league championships in France and his native Germany.
The Welsh boss was formerly an assistant at the Belgian side and Burnley to Kompany, who replaced Tuchel at Bayern Munich.
"Tuchel's an incredible manager - his record is proven," Bellamy added.
"I possess some sort of understanding because the team he departed I know individuals who have gone in there. I get a glimpse from that of his methods and it's remarkable. "
"His strategic planning is top level and I aimed to be up against such a challenge - see how we adjust because he adapts too. I will get to learn from that. I'd love to get to such heights."
Wales Squad Selection
Keepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), King (the Toffees).
Backline: Cabango (Swansea City), Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Spurs), Kpakio (Cardiff), Lawlor (Cardiff City), Chris Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Rodon (Leeds United), Williams (Forest).
Midfield: Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (the Cherries), J. James (Leicester - on loan from Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Sorba Thomas (Stoke), Harry Wilson (Fulham), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (Wrexham), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Mark Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from the Reds), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff).
