England Team Strength Labelled 'Ridiculous' - Wales Manager Bellamy

• Published 60 minutes ago

International friendly: England v Wales

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST

The Wales head coach states the English player pool is remarkable that a boxing promoter wouldn't match them against his Wales side.

The Welsh squad face their neighbors in a non-competitive match at Wembley on this Thursday before their important qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has left the such as Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish out of his squad for the match against Wales and their qualifying game against Latvia.

"England have a incredible squad, like France," the coach remarked.

"They have a market valuation of £1.4bn, Wales' is £170m. Were you a fight promoter, you wouldn't put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."

He says ensuring the Welsh team can compete with the talented opponents is a "driving force".

Bellamy added: "We do not rely on values, but the simple fact is England don't just have a single lineup. They possess multiple and France and others are similarly stacked. They have loads of top talents and that's the honest truth."

"One right-back was ruled out injured the recently and there are 24 more to choose from! They've got 60-odd footballers. I wish Wales to be stacked like them."

These two nations most recently met at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, when the English emerged as comfortable victors in a fixture before the previous England team reached the quarter-finals.

The new manager is Tuchel, a European and world club champion at Chelsea who has claimed domestic titles in France and his native Germany.

The Welsh boss was formerly an coach at Anderlecht and the English club to Kompany, who replaced him at Bayern Munich.

"Tuchel's an outstanding manager - his record speak for themselves," Bellamy noted.

"I have a degree of understanding because the club he left I am familiar with individuals who have joined. I get a glimpse from that of how he works and it's very impressive. "

"His tactical detail is elite and I wanted to be facing that - observe how you're going to adapt because he will. I can learn from that. I'd love to get to such heights."

Keepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds), Adam Davies (Sheffield Utd), Tom King (the Toffees).

Defenders: Cabango (Swansea), Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Kpakio (Cardiff), Lawlor (Cardiff City), Chris Mepham (West Brom), Rodon (Leeds United), Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest).

Midfielders: Ampadu (Leeds United), Brooks (the Cherries), J. James (Leicester City - on loan from Rennes), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Thomas (Stoke), H. Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff).

Forwards: Broadhead (Wrexham), Liam Cullen (Swansea City), Mark Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - loaned by Liverpool), Brennan Johnson (Spurs), Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff City).