Craig Bellamy, Wales coach, believes that Lewis Koumas' international future lies in the role of striker. The 20-year-old Liverpool youngster scored his debut for the Welsh national team in the 1-1 draw against Ghana, in a friendly played at the Cardiff City Stadium, and reinforced the coach's conviction.
“We see him as a ‘9’ because we don’t have many center forwards emerging and, on the contrary, we have several wingers, and of great quality”, explained Bellamy, highlighting that Koumas can also be an added value on the wings, but that the need in the attacking axis has led the technical team to use him and train him in that role. “He’s been electric.”
Trained at Liverpool, Koumas spent much of his early career playing on the left. Even so, Bellamy has been giving him minutes as an offensive reference – he had already played him in that position in the March friendly with Northern Ireland – and liked the recent impact. "Today when he came on he lacked a bit of judgement, but that's normal. I see him as a player of the future for Wales and he will have a lot to say."
Koumas completed the second half of the 2025/26 season on loan at Hull City, contributing to their promotion to the top levels via the Championship play-offs. Previously, he had loans to Birmingham City and Stoke City, almost always as a left winger. In terms of options, Wales is well served on the flanks, with names like Daniel James, Harry Wilson, Brennan Johnson, David Brooks and Sorba Thomas, but they are missing basic strikers.
Eliminated from the World Cup after losing the play-off semi-final in March against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Wales close the season with a friendly in Romania on Saturday (6:45 pm BST).
Ghana continues its trip to the United States to prepare for participation in the 2026 World Cup, where it was drawn in the same group as England, Croatia and Panama. Asked about the Black Stars' prospects, Bellamy noted the arrival of Carlos Queiroz as coach and highlighted the threat in transition: "They are dangerous due to their speed on the front line. If they maintain solidity and win the first game, against Panama, they can pave the way for the qualifiers. Croatia and England will be very tough challenges."