Craig Bellamy: A boxing promoter would not put Wales up against England

By Phil Blanche, PA

Craig Bellamy says “ridiculous” England are so good that a boxing promoter would not match them against his Wales side.

The two teams meet in a Wembley friendly on Thursday for the first time since England coasted to a 3-0 group-stage victory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

England ended up reaching the quarter-finals of that tournament, either side of two European Championship final appearances under Sir Gareth Southgate.

Thomas Tuchel has since succeeded Southgate with the target to win the World Cup next summer – and Bellamy says the German’s expenses at the Football Association are probably the same as his Wales wages.

“England have a ridiculous squad, like France,” Bellamy said ahead of Wales’ first visit to Wembley since a 3-0 defeat five years ago played behind closed doors due to Covid-19 restrictions.

“They have a transfer market value of 1.4billion, ours is £170million.

“If you were a boxing promoter you wouldn’t put us together. It wouldn’t be allowed.

“We don’t go off values, but the simple fact is they don’t just have one team. They have two, three, four and France and others have the same level.”

Bellamy – who sees the Wembley fixture as perfect preparation for next Monday’s World Cup qualifier with Belgium in Cardiff – is just 12 games into his managerial career having made the best start of any Wales boss.

The former Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle forward stayed unbeaten until his 10th game – the 4-3 World Cup qualifying loss to Belgium in June – and his record reads six wins, four draws and two defeats.

Bellamy is relishing the opportunity to go head-to-head with Tuchel, a Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup winner at Chelsea who has won domestic titles in France and Germany.

The 46-year-old says he has an understanding of his methods due to Vincent Kompany, who he assisted at Anderlecht and Burnley, succeeding Tuchel at Bayern Munich.

“Tuchel’s an incredible manager, his record is proven,” said Bellamy.

“I have some sort of an insight because the club he left I know people who have gone in there.

“I get a bit of an insight there of how he works and it’s very impressive. His tactical detail is top level and I wanted to be up against that.

“See how you’re going to adapt because he will. I will get to learn from that. I’d love to get to that level.”

Tuchel made the eye-catching decision to leave Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham out of his squad for the Wales friendly and the World Cup qualifier in Latvia.

But Bellamy said: “England have loads of great players and that’s the honest truth. One right-back went out injured the other day and there’s only 24 more to go!

“They’ve got 60-odd players. I’d love us to be stacked like them. It’s my driving force.”