Three Lions Squad Depth Called 'Ridiculous' - Welsh Manager Craig Bellamy

• Published 1 hour ago

Friendly match: England v Wales

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: October 9th Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST

The Wales head coach says England's squad depth is so impressive that a boxing promoter wouldn't pair them against his Wales side.

The Welsh squad face England in a friendly at the national stadium on this Thursday before their important qualifying match against the Belgians next Monday.

National team coach Thomas Tuchel has omitted the such as Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish from his selection for the match against Wales and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.

"England have a incredible team, like the French," Bellamy said.

"They have a transfer market value of £1.4bn, ours is 170 million. If you were a fight promoter, you wouldn't match us up. That wouldn't be permitted."

Bellamy says ensuring Wales can compete with the star-studded rivals is a "driving force".

Bellamy added: "Our team don't go off values, but the reality is England have more than one team. They possess multiple and France and others are similarly stacked. They have many great players and that's the honest truth."

"A defender was ruled out injured the other day and there are two dozen others to go! They have 60-odd players. I wish us to be well-equipped similarly."

These two nations last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when England emerged as comfortable 3-0 winners in a fixture before the previous England team reached the quarter-finals.

Southgate's successor is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and world club winner at the London club who has claimed league championships in France and his native Germany.

Bellamy was formerly an coach at the Belgian side and Burnley to Kompany, who replaced him at Bayern Munich.

"He's an outstanding coach - his achievements speak for themselves," Bellamy noted.

"I possess a degree of understanding because the team he departed I know people who have gone in there. I gain a bit of an insight from that of his methods and it's very impressive. "

"His tactical detail is elite and I aimed to be facing such a challenge - observe how we adjust because he adapts too. I can learn from it. I'd love to get to that level."

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

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

Midfielders: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Rennes), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (Fulham), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff).

Forwards: Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Liam Cullen (Swansea City), Mark Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from the Reds), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff).