Three Lions Squad Strength Called 'Absurd' - Welsh Manager Craig Bellamy

• Published 1 hour ago

Friendly match: Wales vs England

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

The Wales head coach says the English squad depth is remarkable that matchmakers wouldn't match them with the Welsh team.

The Welsh squad face England in a non-competitive match at Wembley on Thursday before their crucial World Cup qualifier against Belgium next the following week.

England manager Tuchel has left the such as Bellingham, Foden and Jack Grealish from his squad for the Wales friendly and their World Cup qualifier against the Latvian team.

"England have a ridiculous team, like France," the coach said.

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

Bellamy says making sure Wales can compete with the talented opponents is a "driving force".

Bellamy continued: "Our team don't go off market prices, but the reality is England have more than one team. They have two, three, four and the French and others are similarly stacked. They have many top talents and that's the honest truth."

"One right-back was ruled out injured the recently and there are two dozen others to go! They've got 60-odd players. I'd love Wales to be well-equipped similarly."

These two nations most recently met at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when England ran out comfortable victors in a group match before Gareth Southgate's side made it to the last eight.

The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup champion at Chelsea who has won league championships in Ligue 1 and his home country.

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

"He's an outstanding manager - his record speak for themselves," he added.

"I possess some sort of insight because the team he departed I am familiar with people who have joined. I get a glimpse there of his methods and it's very impressive. "

"His strategic planning is elite and I aimed to be up against such a challenge - see how you're going to adapt because he will. I will get to learn from it. I'd love to reach that level."

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

Backline: Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), B. Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Kpakio (Cardiff), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Rodon (Leeds United), Williams (Forest).

Midfielders: Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (Bournemouth), J. James (Leicester City - loaned by Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Thomas (Stoke), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), J. Colwill (Cardiff City), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff).

Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford), Koumas (Birmingham - loaned by the Reds), Johnson (Spurs), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff City).