England squad strength 'ridiculous' - Bellamy

Thomas Tuchel was appointed England manager in October 2024

International friendly: England v Wales

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST

Coverage: Live on S4C, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds, the BBC Sport website and app, plus live text commentary.

Craig Bellamy says England's squad depth is so impressive that a boxing promoter would not pair them against his Wales side.

Bellamy's men face England in a friendly at Wembley on Thursday before their crucial World Cup qualifier against Belgium next Monday.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has left the likes of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish out of his squad for the Wales friendly and their World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

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

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

Bellamy says ensuring Wales can compete with the star-studded opponents is a "driving force".

The Wales head coach added: "We don't go off values, but the simple fact is they don't just have one team. They have two, three, four and France and others have the same level. England have loads of great players and that's the honest truth.

"One right-back went out injured the other day and there's only 24 more to go! They've got 60-odd players. I'd love us to be stacked like them."

The neighbouring countries most recently met at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when England ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in a group match before Gareth Southgate's side reached the last eight.

Southgate's successor is Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup winner at Chelsea who has won domestic titles in France and his native Germany.

Bellamy was formerly an assistant at Anderlecht and Burnley to Vincent Kompany, who succeeded Tuchel at Bayern Munich.

"Tuchel's an incredible manager - his record is proven," Bellamy added.

"I have some sort of an insight because the club he left I know people who have gone in there. I get a bit of an insight there of how he works and it's very impressive.

"His tactical detail is top level and I wanted to be up against that - see how you're going to adapt because he will. I will get to learn from that. I'd love to get to that level."

Wales squad

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

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

Midfielders: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (Fulham), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff City).

Forwards: Nathan Broadhead (Wrexham), Liam Cullen (Swansea City), Mark Harris (Oxford United), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - on loan from Liverpool), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City).