Romelu Lukaku is in a desperate race against time to prove his fitness before Belgium boss Roberto Martinez announces his 26-man World Cup squad on Thursday.
The Chelsea striker, on loan at Inter Milan, has played only 29 minutes off the bench since August, because of a recurrence of a hamstring injury. And Martinez wants the Red Devils’ record goalscorer to be ready for their Group F matches - starting against Canada on November 23 - to be in his squad.
“For the moment, he is not ready to play,” said Martinez. “He is in the hands of the doctors. We have experience of this situation. We had the same with Vincent Kompany before the World Cup in 2018. He was injured just before the squad announcement (with a groin injury and he missed the first two group games). The situation is quite similar.
"The decision will be taken on Thursday just before the squad is announced and will be related to the three matches in the group stage of the World Cup.
"If he is ready to play in one of those three matches, he is a player we need in our team. If he can’t, he will not be picked. We are working day by day.”
Belgium, who beat England in the third-place playoff in Russia, also face Morocco (November 27) and Canada (December 1).
Lukaku has scored 68 goals in 102 internationals and would be a big miss for an ageing Belgium squad which has a final chance to lift a major international trophy.
Without the former Manchester United and Everton forward, Fenerbahce's Michy Batsuhuayi will lead the line alongside Eden Hazard. But the Real Madrid playmaker has not played in LaLiga since September 11 and has made only two appearances in the Champions League.
Lukaku had just returned to the Inter Milan side after two months out with a hamstring injury. He came off the bench to score a late goal against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League last Wednesday and then played again Sampdoria in Serie A on Saturday where he re-aggravated the problem.
Martinez added: “We are working with a player who we know very well. We are seeing different signs of improvement. Treating a muscle strain is very individual.
"Waiting until just before the squad announcement will give us the time to evaluate the improvement in the muscle tissue and estimate how long it will take for him to recover.”
Missing the World Cup would end a disastrous 18 months for Lukaku. He was the hero in helping Inter Milan win the scudetto under Antonio Conte in 2020-21 before his £97m return to Stamford Bridge.
But Lukaku, now 29, failed to settle back in London and gave an explosive interview last December saying he wanted to return to Italy.
He is now on a second year-long loan deal back to Serie A and Gazzetta dello Sport reported last month that his agent Jay-Z and Chelsea’s American owner Todd Boehly had agreed the striker should stay at Inter Milan for another year before joining on a permanent deal in 2024.
But further reports in the last few weeks have suggested Inter are reluctant to sign Lukaku, now 29, because of his injury record.
