England Team Depth Labelled 'Absurd' - Wales Boss Bellamy

• Published 1 hour ago

Friendly match: Wales vs England

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

The Wales head coach states the English player pool is remarkable that matchmakers would not match them against the Welsh team.

The Welsh squad meet England in a non-competitive match at the national stadium on Thursday before their crucial qualifying match against the Belgians next Monday.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has omitted the likes of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish out of his selection for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

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

"England have a market valuation of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is 170 million. Were you a fight promoter, you wouldn't put us together. That wouldn't be permitted."

He explains making sure Wales can compete with the star-studded rivals is a "key motivation".

Bellamy continued: "We do not rely on market prices, but the reality is England don't just have one team. They have two, three, four and France and others have the same level. England have many top talents and that's the honest truth."

"One right-back was ruled out with injury the other day and there's only 24 more to go! They have over sixty footballers. I wish Wales to be stacked like them."

These two nations most recently met at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when England emerged as comfortable victors in a fixture before the previous England team reached the last eight.

The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a European and world club winner at the London club who has claimed domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his native Germany.

Bellamy was formerly an assistant at the Belgian side and the English club to Kompany, who replaced him at the German giants.

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

"I have a degree of understanding because the team he departed I am familiar with people who have joined. I gain a bit of an insight there of his methods and it's remarkable. "

"His tactical detail is top level and I aimed to be facing such a challenge - see how we adjust because he adapts too. I will get to learn from that. I aspire to reach such heights."

Keepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield Utd), Tom King (Everton).

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

Midfield: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (the Cherries), Jordan James (Leicester - loaned by Stade Rennais), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke), Harry Wilson (Fulham), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff City).

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