Wales and Stoke City winger Sorba Thomas has admitted he thought his time with the national team was over after being frozen out under former boss Rob Page following the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
But Bellamy, who succeeded Page last year, immediately recalled Thomas for his first match in charge and has since made him a key part of Wales’ World Cup qualifying campaign.
“It’s been crazy, I’ve proven a lot of people wrong,” Thomas said ahead of Thursday’s qualifier in Kazakhstan.
“The people who doubted me, I’d love to see all their faces now.
“It’s exciting when you have a manager who believes in you, who plays to your strengths, and was an ex-winger himself.
“You can learn from it as well. I watched him many times in the Premier League – and he said he saw a lot of him in myself, very misunderstood.
“I feel he’s got to know me very early, not just as a footballer but as an actual person, and I feel that’s helped me trust him.
“I think my performances have gained a lot of his trust, and there is no better feeling than when you have a manager who truly believes in you.”
Thomas was playing on loan at Nantes when Bellamy rang to discuss a recall.
“It was just a shock. I had a pre-warning someone was going to call me and that I had to answer.
“When I got the call I weirdly thought I recognised the voice. Then he said who he was and I thought ‘wow’,” he said.
“A couple of weeks later I saw my name in the Welsh squad, and I just called everyone to tell them I was back.
“Everyone told me to think of it as a fresh start and anything that has happened before is done.
“He understands me as a person and he has said to me ‘we’re very similar people’ and that I just need to keep performing.”
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The winger has since cemented a starting place, scoring his first international goal against Belgium in June and becoming one of Wales’ most reliable attacking outlets.
His club form has mirrored that revival. Since joining Stoke in the summer after leaving France, Thomas has scored twice and created three goals in his opening four matches.
The 26-year-old says Bellamy’s faith has fuelled his improvement.
“He [Bellamy] said to me, ‘I couldn’t care less what other people think of you. I’m going to judge off what I see and what he’s seen is the real me’,” Thomas revealed.
“When people heard stuff about me in the past, in my honest opinion, people didn’t really go out of their way to get to know who I am as a person.
“They just wanted to judge me as a player, but not to get to know me as a person and know why I do certain things.
“Bellamy has brought a different side out of me. I feel like I’m even more hungry to do well and to stake my claim in the team and for me, it’s just about improving every single day of training.
“I’d like to feel we’re quite close, I don’t know what he would say. But I’d like to feel I’m quite a similar player to when he was playing. I also have tried to score more goals than he did, but I’ve got many more to go.”
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Wales currently sit second in Group J, one point behind North Macedonia and three clear of Belgium, who have two games in hand.
With four fixtures left, automatic qualification for next summer’s World Cup in North America remains possible.
Thomas says Bellamy has given both the players and the country belief.
“I thought I’d never play for Wales again, but what the gaffer has done for the country is unbelievable.
“He made us believe, not just us players but the whole country, that we can go and achieve things. It’s an exciting time for Welsh football.”
That spirit was on show in June when Wales came from 3-0 down in Brussels to draw level with Belgium, before going on to lose, 4-3.
“It’s exciting to have an attacking-minded coach who sees you for who you are and doesn’t judge you, kind of like a fresh start. It’s an exciting time for us.
“We all watched him and saw what he was like on the pitch, good and bad. But he brought that fight and that grittiness into the team and we showed it at Belgium.
“We showed the resilience to not just come back from 3-0 down, but to still go for the winner and not sit back and take the draw.”
READ MORE: Sorba Thomas Accuses Belgium of “Lack of Respect” After Heartbreaking Defeat
