The 22-year-old, who missed half of the year 2013 with damaged knee ligaments, will have to undergo another operation after sustaining the injury in Egypt’s friendly game against Uganda last month.

He was initially poised for a three-week layoff but now Prof. Pier Paolo Mariani - who performed the first surgery - said there must be a reconstruction to the ligament.

Hegazi posted a tweet on his Twitter account saying: “Another cruciate ligament injury is unbelievable, but thank God anyway.”

The center-half, who is a key figure in Egypt’s backline, will now miss the decisive World Cup final qualifying round later this year.