England Team Depth Called 'Ridiculous' - Welsh Boss Craig Bellamy

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Friendly match: Wales vs England

Venue: Wembley Stadium, the capital Date: October 9th Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST

The Wales head coach says England's player pool is so impressive that matchmakers would not pair them with his Wales side.

The Welsh squad meet their neighbors in a friendly at the national stadium on Thursday before their crucial qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.

England manager Tuchel has omitted the likes of Bellingham, Foden and Grealish from his squad for the match against Wales and their qualifying game against Latvia.

"England have a incredible team, similar to the French," the coach said.

"England have a transfer market value of 1.4 billion pounds, Wales' is 170 million. If you were a fight promoter, you would not match us up. That wouldn't be permitted."

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

Bellamy continued: "Our team don't go off market prices, but the simple fact is they don't just have a single lineup. They possess multiple and the French and other nations have the same level. They have loads of great players and that's a fact."

"One right-back went out injured the other day and there are two dozen others to go! They've got 60-odd players. I wish us to be well-equipped like them."

The neighbouring countries last faced each other at the 2022 tournament in the Middle East, when the English ran out easy victors in a fixture before Gareth Southgate's side made it to the last eight.

The new manager is Tuchel, a European and world club champion at Chelsea who has claimed league championships in Ligue 1 and his native Germany.

Bellamy was previously an assistant at Anderlecht and Burnley to Vincent Kompany, who succeeded Tuchel at the German giants.

"He's an incredible coach - his achievements speak for themselves," Bellamy added.

"I have a degree of understanding because the team he departed I know people who have joined. I gain a bit of an insight from that of how he works and it's very impressive. "

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

Goalkeepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (Everton).

Defenders: Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Spurs), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff City), Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Rodon (Leeds United), Neco Williams (Forest).

Midfield: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (the Cherries), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Sorba Thomas (Stoke), H. Wilson (Fulham), J. Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff City).

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