Three Lions Squad Strength Labelled 'Ridiculous' - Wales Boss Craig Bellamy

• Published 60 minutes ago

International friendly: Wales vs England

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

Craig Bellamy says the English squad depth is so impressive that matchmakers would not pair them against his Wales side.

Bellamy's men meet their neighbors in a friendly at Wembley on Thursday before their important qualifying match against the Belgians next the following week.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has left the likes of Bellingham, Foden and Jack Grealish from his selection for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

"England have a ridiculous squad, like the French," Bellamy remarked.

"They have a market valuation of £1.4bn, ours is 170 million. Were you a boxing promoter, you wouldn't match us up. That wouldn't be permitted."

Bellamy says making sure Wales can compete with the star-studded opponents is a "key motivation".

The Wales head coach continued: "Our team do not rely on values, but the reality is England have more than one team. They have two, three, four and France and others are similarly stacked. They have loads of great players and that's the honest truth."

"A defender went out injured the other day and there's only two dozen others to choose from! They have 60-odd players. I wish us to be stacked similarly."

These two nations last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when the English ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in a fixture before Gareth Southgate's side made it to the last eight.

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

The Welsh boss was formerly an assistant at Anderlecht and Burnley to Kompany, who succeeded him at the German giants.

"He's an outstanding coach - his achievements is proven," he added.

"I have some sort of insight because the club he left I know people who have gone in there. I gain a bit of an insight there of how he works and it's very impressive. "

"His strategic planning is elite and I aimed to be up against such a challenge - observe how we adjust because he adapts too. I will get to learn from it. I aspire to get to such heights."

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

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

Midfielders: Ampadu (Leeds United), Brooks (the Cherries), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (Fulham), J. Colwill (Cardiff), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff).

Forwards: Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from Liverpool), Johnson (Spurs), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City).