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Three Lions Squad Depth Called 'Ridiculous' - Wales Manager Craig Bellamy

Football Manager
Thomas Tuchel took over as England manager in October 2024.
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International friendly: Wales vs England

Venue: London's Wembley, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST

The Wales head coach states England's squad depth is remarkable that matchmakers would not match them against the Welsh team.

Bellamy's men face their neighbors in a non-competitive match at Wembley on 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 match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

"England have a ridiculous team, similar to the French," the coach remarked.

"England have a market valuation of 1.4 billion pounds, Wales' is £170m. Were you a fight promoter, you would not put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."

Bellamy says ensuring the Welsh team can face the star-studded opponents is a "driving force".

The Wales head coach added: "Our team don't go off values, but the simple fact is they have more than a single lineup. They have multiple and the French and other nations are similarly stacked. England have many great players and that's the honest truth."

"One right-back was ruled out with injury the other day and there's only 24 more to go! They have over sixty footballers. I wish us to be well-equipped similarly."

The neighbouring countries most recently met at the 2022 tournament in the Middle East, when the English ran out easy victors in a fixture before Gareth Southgate's side made it to the quarter-finals.

Southgate's successor is Tuchel, a Champions League and world club winner at the London club who has won domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his native Germany.

Bellamy was formerly an assistant at the Belgian side and the English club to Vincent Kompany, who replaced Tuchel at Bayern Munich.

"Tuchel's an outstanding manager - his achievements speak for themselves," he added.

"I have some sort of insight because the club he left I know individuals who have joined. I gain a bit of an insight there of how he works and it's remarkable. "

"His strategic planning is top level and I wanted to be up against that - observe how we adjust because he will. I will get to learn from it. I aspire to reach that level."

Wales Squad List

Keepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds United), Davies (Sheffield United), King (the Toffees).

Defenders: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), B. Davies (Spurs), Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff City), Chris Mepham (West Brom), Rodon (Leeds), Neco Williams (Forest).

Midfield: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), Brooks (Bournemouth), J. James (Leicester City - loaned by Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff).

Forwards: Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from Liverpool), Johnson (Spurs), Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff).

The writer

Wendy Guerra

Digital marketing strategist with over a decade of experience, passionate about helping brands thrive online through data-driven approaches.

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