England Team Depth Called 'Ridiculous' - Wales Boss Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: England v Wales
Venue: London's Wembley, the capital Date: October 9th Kick-off: 19:45 BST
The Wales head coach states the English squad depth is so impressive that a boxing promoter wouldn't pair them with his Wales side.
Bellamy's men meet their neighbors in a non-competitive match at the national stadium on this Thursday before their important qualifying match against the Belgians next the following week.
National team coach Tuchel has omitted the such as Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish from his selection for the Wales friendly and their World Cup qualifier against the Latvian team.
"The English have a ridiculous team, similar to the French," Bellamy said.
"England have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. If you were a boxing promoter, you wouldn't match us up. That wouldn't be permitted."
Bellamy explains making sure the Welsh team can compete with the talented rivals is a "driving force".
Bellamy added: "Our team don't go off values, but the simple fact is England have more than a single lineup. They possess two, three, four and the French and others are similarly stacked. England have many top talents and that's a fact."
"A defender went out injured the recently and there are two dozen others to choose from! They have 60-odd footballers. I'd love us to be well-equipped like them."
These two nations most recently met at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when England emerged as comfortable victors in a fixture before the previous England team reached the quarter-finals.
Southgate's successor is Tuchel, a European and Fifa Club World Cup champion at the London club who has won league championships in Ligue 1 and his home country.
The Welsh boss was previously an coach at Anderlecht and the English club to Kompany, who succeeded him at Bayern Munich.
"He's an incredible manager - his achievements speak for themselves," he added.
"I possess a degree of understanding because the team he departed I am familiar with people who have gone in there. I gain a bit of an insight from that of how he works and it's remarkable. "
"His strategic planning is top level and I aimed to be facing such a challenge - observe how you're going to adapt because he will. I will get to learn from it. I aspire to reach that level."
Wales Team Selection
Keepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (Everton).
Defenders: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff), Chris Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Forest).
Midfield: Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Broadhead (Wrexham), Liam Cullen (Swansea City), Harris (Oxford United), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from the Reds), Johnson (Spurs), Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff City).
