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.