Marco Silva, manager of English football club Fulham, said Aleksandar Mitrovic’s readiness remains in serious doubt, despite his selection from the Serbian national squad, which includes 26 players for the World Cup.
Mitrovic has scored nine goals in 12 Premier League games for Fulham this season, but missed the game his side lost 1-2 to Manchester City with injury.
The foot injury is expected to cause Mitrovic to miss the team’s match against Manchester United on Sunday, in Fulham’s last game before the league’s World Cup disruption.
Mitrovic was on Friday’s list picked by Serbian coach Dragan Stojkovic, but Silva revealed the 28-year-old striker still needs medical tests before he can play in Qatar.
Silva told reporters: What I can tell you is that a decision could be made between the medical staff of the Serbian national team and our medical staff this week.
He added: This will help determine what is best for the player, and also for us as a club because he is a very important player.
He stressed: I’m not the right person to say whether the player can participate or not.
And he added: What I know now is that he wasn’t ready to participate in the last game, and he won’t be ready for the next game, unfortunately with us.
Mitrovic scored 50 goals in 76 appearances for Fulham, including eight goals in five games for his country in World Cup qualifying.
Asked what would happen if Fulham recommended Serbia not to participate in Mitrovic, Silva said: We don’t know what will happen.
He added: Mitrovic wants to play in the World Cup, he wanted to be available for Sunday’s match against Manchester United and he wanted to play against Manchester City.
And he added: this is the situation, it’s not just about his desire to be there. You must wait for the decision of the medical device. Then, we will make the decision together.
Serbia participates in the World Cup as an independent country for the third time and plays in Group G together with Brazil, Cameroon and Switzerland.
