England Team Strength Called 'Absurd' - Wales Manager Craig Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: Wales vs England
Venue: Wembley Stadium, the capital Date: October 9th Kick-off: 19:45 BST
The Wales head coach states England's squad depth is remarkable that matchmakers wouldn't pair them with the Welsh team.
Bellamy's men meet England in a friendly at the national stadium on Thursday before their crucial World Cup qualifier against the Belgians next Monday.
England manager Tuchel has left the such as Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish from his selection for the match against Wales and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.
"England have a ridiculous team, similar to the French," Bellamy remarked.
"England have a transfer market value of £1.4bn, ours is 170 million. If you were a fight promoter, you wouldn't put us together. That wouldn't be permitted."
He says making sure Wales can compete with the talented opponents is a "key motivation".
Bellamy added: "We don't go off values, but the simple fact is England have more than one team. They possess two, three, four and France and other nations are similarly stacked. They have many great players and that's the honest truth."
"One right-back went out with injury the recently and there's only two dozen others to choose from! They have over sixty players. I wish Wales to be stacked like them."
The neighbouring countries last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when the English ran out comfortable victors in a group match before the previous England team made it to the last eight.
Southgate's successor is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and world club champion at Chelsea who has won domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his home country.
Bellamy was previously an coach at Anderlecht and the English club to Vincent Kompany, who replaced him at the German giants.
"Tuchel's an outstanding coach - his achievements speak for themselves," Bellamy added.
"I possess some sort of insight because the club he left I am familiar with individuals who have gone in there. I get a bit of an insight from that of his methods and it's very impressive. "
"His strategic planning is top level and I wanted to be facing that - see how we adjust because he will. I will get to learn from it. I'd love to get to that level."
Wales Squad Selection
Goalkeepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield Utd), Tom King (the Toffees).
Backline: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Dasilva (Coventry), B. Davies (Spurs), Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Brom), Rodon (Leeds United), Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfielders: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United), Brooks (Bournemouth), J. James (Leicester City - loaned by Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff City).
Attackers: Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Cullen (Swansea), Mark Harris (Oxford United), Koumas (Birmingham - on loan from the Reds), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City).
