Three Lions Squad Strength Called 'Ridiculous' - Welsh Boss Bellamy

• Published 1 hour ago

International friendly: Wales vs England

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

Craig Bellamy states England's squad depth is so impressive that a boxing promoter wouldn't match them against the Welsh team.

Bellamy's men face England in a friendly at Wembley on Thursday before their important World Cup qualifier against Belgium next the following week.

National team coach Tuchel has left the such as Bellingham, Foden and Grealish out of his selection for the Wales friendly and their qualifying game against Latvia.

"The English have a incredible squad, similar to France," the coach said.

"They have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. Were you a fight promoter, you would not put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."

Bellamy explains making sure Wales can face the star-studded rivals is a "key motivation".

The Wales head coach continued: "We do not rely on values, but the reality is England don't just have one team. They have multiple and the French and other nations are similarly stacked. England have loads of top talents and that's a fact."

"A defender was ruled out injured the other day and there's only 24 more to choose from! They've got 60-odd footballers. I'd love Wales to be stacked like them."

The neighbouring countries most recently met at the 2022 tournament in the Middle East, when the English ran out comfortable victors in a fixture before the previous England team reached the quarter-finals.

The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup champion at Chelsea who has claimed domestic titles in France and his native Germany.

Bellamy was previously an coach at the Belgian side and the English club to Kompany, who succeeded Tuchel at Bayern Munich.

"He's an incredible manager - his achievements speak for themselves," Bellamy noted.

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

"His strategic planning is elite and I wanted to be facing such a challenge - see how you're going to adapt because he will. I can learn from it. I aspire to reach that level."

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

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

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

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