England Squad Depth Called 'Ridiculous' - Welsh Manager Craig Bellamy

• Published 1 hour ago

International friendly: Wales vs England

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

The Wales head coach says the English player pool is remarkable that matchmakers would not pair them with his Wales side.

The Welsh squad face their neighbors in a non-competitive match at Wembley on this Thursday before their important World Cup qualifier against the Belgians next Monday.

National team coach Tuchel has omitted the likes of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish from his squad for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

"The English have a ridiculous team, like the French," Bellamy said.

"They have a market valuation of £1.4bn, Wales' is £170m. If you were a boxing promoter, you would not match us up. That wouldn't be permitted."

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

Bellamy continued: "We do not rely on values, but the simple fact is they have more than a single lineup. They possess multiple and France and others are similarly stacked. They have loads of great players and that's a fact."

"One right-back went out injured the other day and there are 24 more to go! They've got over sixty footballers. I'd love Wales to be stacked like them."

These two nations last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when England ran out easy victors in a group match before Gareth Southgate's side reached the last eight.

Southgate's successor is Tuchel, a European and world club winner at Chelsea who has claimed domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his home country.

The Welsh boss was formerly an coach at the Belgian side and the English club to Vincent Kompany, who succeeded him at Bayern Munich.

"Tuchel's an outstanding manager - his achievements is proven," he added.

"I have some sort of understanding because the team he departed I know individuals who have joined. I get a bit of an insight there of his methods and it's very impressive. "

"His strategic planning is elite and I aimed to be facing that - see how we adjust because he adapts too. I can learn from that. I'd love to get to such heights."

Goalkeepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds United), Davies (Sheffield Utd), Tom King (Everton).

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

Midfield: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff).

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