Mohamed Elneny is a doubt for Egypt’s opening fixture of the international break through injury, according to his coach.

Arsenal's Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Elneny celebrates at the end of the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Everton at the Emirates Stadium in London on May 22, 2022. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)
Arsenal’s Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Elneny celebrates at the end of the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Everton at the Emirates Stadium in London on May 22, 2022. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt coach Ehab Galal confirmed on Saturday that Mohamed Elneny may miss their fixture against Guinea on Sunday night through injury.

The Arsenal midfielder reportedly picked up a knock in training with Egypt, and he’s a doubt to recover in time.

Elneny joins Kieran Tierney, Thomas Partey, Ben White, and Gabriel Magalhaes in seeing his international participation over the current break impacted by an injury.

Egypt are kicking off their 2023 AFCON qualifiers by hosting Guinea at 20:00 BST on Sunday, and they’ll play Ethiopia in another qualifier next Thursday.

They’re also scheduled to face South Korea the following Tuesday, but that match is obviously not an AFCON qualifier, just a friendly.

For those wondering, the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finals will take place in June-July of 2023. So unlike the last AFCON tournament, Elneny and any other African Arsenal players won’t miss any Premier League matches.

Arsenal's Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka (R) embraces Arsenal's Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Elneny as they celebrate on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium in London on April 23, 2022. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
Arsenal’s Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka (R) embraces Arsenal’s Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Elneny as they celebrate on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium in London on April 23, 2022. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)

This injury is probably not how Elneny wanted to kick off the next steps in his career, having just signed a contract extension with Arsenal.

The midfielder would have been out of contract this summer, but he’s now committed his future to the Gunners.

Sam Dean of The Telegraph reported Elneny had signed a one-year contract extension with Arsenal with the option for a further year on top of that.

So we don’t yet know for certain whether he’ll still be an Arsenal player by the time AFCON rolls around, but he will be if Arsenal still want him.