
London, April 26: Ahead of their Europa League semifinal against Atletico Madrid Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that Egypt midfielder Mohamed Elneny's season with the Gunners is over after he suffered a severe ankle ligament.
Elneny sustained the damage during the recent 4-1 thrashing of West Ham United in the Premier League
However, the French manager also has delivered a good news for Egypt fans as he claimed the midfielder should be fit in time for the World Cup.
Elneny has mostly played a back-up role this season and was behind Xhaka in the pecking order. However, the Egypt international was getting a regular call-up in the first team lately as Wenger was rotating squad as part of their preparation of Europa League.
The midfielder has played 32 matches so far this season, scoring one and assisting four.
But sadly the holding midfileder hurt his left ankle and was carried off on a stretcher during the West Ham game.
The 25-year-old is also one of the main player's of the Egypt national team and the African fans.
His injury has raised a lot of concerns, especially about his availability for the Russia World Cup.
But, Wenger now has eased those concerns at his news conference and suggested there remains every chance that the holding midfielder will be available to his country this summer.
"Mohamed Elneny is [probably] out for the rest of the season. He has a little, little chance to play at Huddersfield," Wenger said. "But I think he will be available for Egypt at the World Cup, but not anymore for Arsenal."
Egypt has qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1990 and missing out on a key player like Elneny would surely dent their chance of progression to the next round.
However, now this news will surely bring comfort to the African continent as the Pharaohs set to open their campaign on June 15 against Uruguay in Group A.
Elneny had started all six of their World Cup qualifiers and 11 of their 14 full internationals in 2017 for Egypt.