Craig Bellamy insists he is benefiting from knowledge of coach Piet Cremers

Craig Bellamy insists he is not a Pep Guardiola clone despite being aligned with Manchester City’s former head of performance analysis and insights Piet Cremers.

Bellamy worked alongside Cremers at Burnley under Vincent Kompany and was determined to get the Dutchman on board after being appointed Wales manager in July.

The results have been extremely positive with Bellamy becoming the first Wales manager to remain unbeaten in his opening four games.

Wales visit Nations League Group B4 leaders Turkey – whom they trail by two points – on Saturday and victory over them and Iceland in Cardiff three days later will secure promotion to the top tier of European football.

Asked about Cremers’ role ahead of the Kayseri clash: “It’s been everything. I knew (before he joined Burnley) that he was in the analysis world and Pep’s analyst for four or five years, day to day, so (having) the insight of one of the real incredible minds.

“To be able to tap into that – and I’m not a little Pep, if you know what I mean. I have different ways and no-one is him.

“But to get an insight and to see his view, it gets you looking at something. Because we (Cremers and Bellamy) are so aligned in what we see, it allows me to find comfort as well.

“If I showed you some of the shapes you’d be like, ‘that’s insane’. But he puts it into practice, ‘No, this is actually the right thing to do, this is how we do this’.

“I’ve seen him work it and I was like, ‘Wow, this works, this is serious’.”

Cremers worked at Nijmegen, Excelsior Rotterdam and Breda in his native Netherlands and also at Brentford before joining Manchester City in 2018.

The 30-year-old moved to Burnley in August 2022 and the Clarets stormed to the Championship title with 101 points and a goal