England Squad Strength Labelled 'Absurd' - Welsh Boss Craig Bellamy

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International friendly: Wales vs England

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

Craig Bellamy says the English player pool is remarkable that matchmakers would not match them against the Welsh team.

The Welsh squad meet their neighbors in a non-competitive match at the national stadium on this Thursday before their crucial World Cup qualifier against the Belgians next Monday.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has omitted the such as Bellingham, Foden and Grealish from his squad for the Wales friendly and their qualifying game against Latvia.

"The English have a ridiculous team, similar to the French," the coach remarked.

"They have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. If you were a fight promoter, you would not match us up. It wouldn't be allowed."

He explains ensuring the Welsh team can compete with the star-studded opponents is a "driving force".

The Wales head coach continued: "Our team don't go off market prices, but the simple fact is England don't just have a single lineup. They have two, three, four and the French and other nations are similarly stacked. They have many great players and that's a fact."

"A defender was ruled out with injury the recently and there's only two dozen others to choose from! They've got over sixty players. I wish us to be well-equipped like them."

These two nations most recently met at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when the English emerged as easy 3-0 winners in a fixture before Gareth Southgate's side made it to the quarter-finals.

The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and world club winner at Chelsea who has won league championships in Ligue 1 and his native Germany.

Bellamy was formerly an assistant at the Belgian side and Burnley to Vincent Kompany, who replaced him at the German giants.

"Tuchel's an outstanding coach - his achievements is proven," he noted.

"I possess some sort of insight because the team he departed I know people who have joined. I gain a bit of an insight there of how he works and it's very impressive. "

"His tactical detail is elite and I wanted to be facing that - see how we adjust because he adapts too. I can learn from it. I aspire to reach such heights."

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

Backline: Cabango (Swansea), Jay Dasilva (Coventry), B. Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff City), Mepham (West Brom), Joe Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Nottingham Forest).

Midfield: Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (the Cherries), Jordan James (Leicester City - loaned by Rennes), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (Fulham), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff).

Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Mark Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from Liverpool), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City).