England Squad Depth Labelled 'Absurd' - Wales Boss Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: England v Wales
Venue: London's Wembley, the capital Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
Craig Bellamy says England's player pool is remarkable that a boxing promoter wouldn't pair them with his Wales side.
The Welsh squad face their neighbors in a friendly at Wembley on Thursday before their important qualifying match against Belgium next the following week.
National team coach Thomas Tuchel has left the likes of Jude Bellingham, Foden and Grealish from his squad for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against the Latvian team.
"England have a ridiculous squad, similar to France," the coach said.
"They have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is 170 million. Were you a boxing promoter, you wouldn't put us together. That wouldn't be permitted."
He says making sure Wales can face the talented rivals is a "driving force".
The Wales head coach added: "Our team do not rely on values, but the simple fact 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 the honest truth."
"One right-back went out injured the recently and there's only two dozen others to choose from! They have 60-odd players. I wish us to be stacked similarly."
The neighbouring countries last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when the English ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in a group match before the previous England team made it to the quarter-finals.
The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup winner at the London club who has won domestic titles in France and his home country.
The Welsh boss was previously an coach at the Belgian side and Burnley to Kompany, who replaced him at Bayern Munich.
"Tuchel's an outstanding manager - his record is proven," he added.
"I possess a degree of insight because the team he departed I am familiar with people who have gone in there. I gain a bit of an insight from that of how he works and it's remarkable. "
"His strategic planning is elite and I wanted to be up against that - see how you're going to adapt because he adapts too. I can learn from it. I'd love to reach that level."
Wales Squad List
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), King (Everton).
Backline: Ben Cabango (Swansea), Jay Dasilva (Coventry), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff City), Chris Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Rodon (Leeds), Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfielders: Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (the Cherries), J. James (Leicester - loaned by Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), J. Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff City).
Forwards: Nathan Broadhead (Wrexham), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Mark Harris (Oxford United), Koumas (Birmingham - on loan from Liverpool), Johnson (Spurs), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff).
