Three Lions Squad Depth Labelled 'Ridiculous' - Wales Manager Craig Bellamy

• Published 1 hour ago

Friendly match: Wales vs England

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

Craig Bellamy says the English player pool is remarkable that matchmakers wouldn't pair them with the Welsh team.

Bellamy's men face England in a friendly at the national stadium on Thursday before their crucial World Cup qualifier against the Belgians next the following week.

England manager Tuchel has omitted the likes of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish from his selection for the Wales friendly and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.

"England have a ridiculous squad, like France," Bellamy remarked.

"They have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, Wales' is £170m. If you were a boxing promoter, you wouldn't put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."

Bellamy explains ensuring the Welsh team can compete with the star-studded rivals is a "key motivation".

The Wales head coach added: "We don't go off values, but the simple fact is England have more than one team. They have multiple and the French and others are similarly stacked. England have loads of great players and that's the honest truth."

"One right-back was ruled out with injury the recently and there are two dozen others to go! They've got 60-odd footballers. I'd love us to be stacked similarly."

The neighbouring countries last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when the English ran out easy victors in a fixture before Gareth Southgate's side reached the last eight.

The new manager is Tuchel, a European and world club champion at Chelsea who has won domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his home country.

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

"He's an outstanding manager - his record is proven," he added.

"I possess a degree of understanding because the club he left I know people who have gone in there. I get a glimpse from that of how he works and it's very impressive. "

"His strategic planning is top level and I aimed to be up against that - observe how you're going to adapt because he adapts too. I can learn from that. I aspire to reach such heights."

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

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

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

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