England Squad Strength Labelled 'Ridiculous' - Wales Manager Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: England v Wales
Venue: London's Wembley, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
Craig Bellamy says the English player pool is so impressive that a boxing promoter would not pair them against the Welsh team.
The Welsh squad face England in a non-competitive match at Wembley on Thursday before their important World Cup qualifier against the Belgians next Monday.
England manager Tuchel has left the such as Jude Bellingham, Foden and Grealish out of his squad for the Wales friendly and their World Cup qualifier against Latvia.
"The English have a ridiculous squad, like France," the coach said.
"England have a transfer market value of £1.4bn, Wales' is 170 million. If you were a boxing promoter, you wouldn't put us together. That wouldn't be permitted."
He explains making sure Wales can compete with the talented opponents is a "key motivation".
The Wales head coach continued: "We don't go off market prices, but the reality is they don't just have one team. They have two, three, four and France and other nations 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 players. I wish Wales to be well-equipped like them."
These two nations last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when England ran out comfortable victors in a fixture before the previous England team made it to the quarter-finals.
Southgate's successor is Tuchel, a European and Fifa Club World Cup champion at the London club who has won domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his home country.
The Welsh boss was previously an coach at Anderlecht and Burnley to Kompany, who succeeded Tuchel at Bayern Munich.
"Tuchel's an incredible manager - his record speak for themselves," Bellamy added.
"I have some sort of insight because the team he departed I know people who have joined. I get a bit of an insight there of his methods and it's very impressive. "
"His tactical detail is elite and I aimed to be facing that - see how you're going to adapt because he adapts too. I will get to learn from that. I aspire to get to such heights."
Welsh Team Selection
Goalkeepers: Darlow (Leeds), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), King (the Toffees).
Backline: Ben Cabango (Swansea), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Spurs), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff City), Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Rodon (Leeds), Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfielders: Ampadu (Leeds), Brooks (Bournemouth), J. James (Leicester - on loan from Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff).
Forwards: Broadhead (Wrexham), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford United), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from the Reds), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City).
