England Team Strength Called 'Absurd' - Welsh Boss Craig Bellamy

• Published 1 hour ago

International friendly: Wales vs England

Venue: London's Wembley, the capital Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST

The Wales head coach says England's squad depth is remarkable that a boxing promoter wouldn't pair them with the Welsh team.

The Welsh squad meet their neighbors in a friendly at Wembley on Thursday before their important qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has omitted the likes of Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish out of his squad for the match against Wales and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.

"The English have a incredible squad, like the French," Bellamy said.

"They have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. If you were a fight promoter, you would not match us up. It wouldn't be allowed."

He says making sure Wales can compete with the talented rivals is a "driving force".

Bellamy continued: "Our team do not rely on market prices, but the simple fact is they have more than a single lineup. They have two, three, four and France and others are similarly stacked. England have loads of top talents and that's the honest truth."

"One right-back went out injured the other day and there are 24 more to go! They've got 60-odd players. I'd love us to be stacked like them."

The neighbouring countries last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when the English emerged as easy victors in a fixture before the previous England team made it to the last eight.

The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a European and Fifa Club World Cup winner at the London club who has claimed league championships in France and his native Germany.

The Welsh boss was previously an assistant at Anderlecht and Burnley to Kompany, who succeeded him at Bayern Munich.

"Tuchel's an incredible manager - his achievements speak for themselves," he noted.

"I have a degree of insight because the team he departed I know individuals who have joined. I gain a glimpse there of his methods and it's very impressive. "

"His strategic planning is elite and I aimed to be facing such a challenge - see how you're going to adapt because he will. I can learn from it. I'd love to get to that level."

Goalkeepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (the Toffees).

Defenders: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Spurs), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Brom), Joe Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Forest).

Midfielders: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester - on loan from Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Thomas (Stoke), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff).

Forwards: Broadhead (Wrexham), Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford), Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from the Reds), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff City).