Craig Bellamy’s Wales exit collapses as talks with EFL club break down

Craig Bellamy’s proposed move to Burnley has now collapsed, talkSPORT understands.

The Wales boss had been in line to become the Championship club’s next manager after Scott Parker left amid their relegation from the Premier League last season.

PA

Following Wales’ failure to qualify for this summer’s World Cup, Bellamy was in talks about taking the job at Turf Moor.

However, it’s understood that some issues regarding his backroom staff have led to Burnley getting cold feet.

His staff with Wales includes James Rowberry, who will be staying with Stoke, Piet Cremers, who is going to be working with Belgium and Andrew Crofts, who is staying put at Brighton.

And it appears the staff issue has now led to a collapse, with the deal breaking down at the latter stages.

This comes after the FAW, as of Thursday morning, were expecting Bellamy to leave his role as manager for Burnley.

Planning for his successor was even underway, with at least two candidates understood to have been approached already.

They have now been left surprised by the news of the collapse.

Staying put?

It means that former Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester City forward, Bellamy, is now set to stay at Wales.

He earned 78 caps for Wales during a 15-year international career before succeeding Rob Page as head coach three years ago.

The role is the 46-year-old’s first in frontline management, having previously worked alongside his ex-Man City teammate Vincent Kompany with Burnley and Bayern Munich.

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Bellamy’s current Wales contract is set to see him through until the end of the next major tournament, Euro 2028 – which Wales will co-host with England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.

In 20 games as manager, he’s won eight and lost six games.

His side almost made it through to the World Cup, but defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina denied them their dreams in the qualifying play-offs in February.

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