England Squad Depth Labelled 'Absurd' - Welsh Boss Craig Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: England v Wales
Venue: London's Wembley, the capital Date: October 9th Kick-off: 19:45 BST
The Wales head coach states England's squad depth is remarkable that matchmakers wouldn't pair them against the Welsh team.
The Welsh squad face their neighbors in a friendly at Wembley on this Thursday before their crucial World Cup qualifier against Belgium next Monday.
England manager Thomas Tuchel has omitted the likes of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish out of his squad for the Wales friendly and their World Cup qualifier against Latvia.
"England have a incredible team, similar to France," the coach remarked.
"They have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. If you were a fight promoter, you wouldn't match us up. It wouldn't be allowed."
He says ensuring the Welsh team can compete with the talented opponents is a "key motivation".
The Wales head coach added: "Our team do not rely on market prices, but the simple fact is England don't just have a single lineup. They have two, three, four and the French and other nations are similarly stacked. England have loads of top talents and that's a fact."
"A defender went out with injury the other day and there's only two dozen others to go! They've got 60-odd players. I'd love us to be stacked like them."
These two nations last faced each other at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, when the English ran out comfortable victors in a group match before the previous England team reached the last eight.
Southgate's successor is Thomas Tuchel, a European and Fifa Club World Cup champion at Chelsea who has won domestic titles in France and his native Germany.
Bellamy was formerly an coach at Anderlecht and Burnley to Kompany, who replaced him at Bayern Munich.
"Tuchel's an outstanding coach - his record is proven," he noted.
"I have a degree of understanding because the club he left I know individuals 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 wanted to be facing that - observe how you're going to adapt because he adapts too. I can learn from that. I aspire to reach such heights."
Wales Squad List
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (Everton).
Backline: Cabango (Swansea), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Spurs), Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Brom), Rodon (Leeds United), Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfield: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (the Cherries), J. James (Leicester City - loaned by Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke), Harry Wilson (Fulham), J. Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Forwards: Nathan Broadhead (Wrexham), Cullen (Swansea City), Harris (Oxford United), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from Liverpool), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff City).
