Omar Rekik returned from injury to make the Sparta Rotterdam bench on Friday, just in time for Tunisia to name their World Cup squad.

Arsenal loanee Omar Rekik is on loan with Sparta Rotterdam this season, but his primary concern at the time of writing will be whether or not he can make it into the Tunisia squad for the World Cup.

Making his debut in 2021 and featuring in 10 Tunisia squads since then, Rekik was most recently involved with his country over the September international break, appearing on the bench against Comoros and Brazil.

Unfortunately, the defender hasn’t had much luck on loan so far. After struggling to break into the Sparta Rotterdam team, he picked up a muscle injury in mid-October, ruling him out of their last four matches.

The good news is that Rekik returned to the Sparta squad on Friday, making the bench against FC Twente.

Another positive is that Tunisia are one of few countries still yet to name their World Cup squad, so Rekik remains in with a chance of featuring in it.

There are certainly no guarantees, and Rekik was a fringe player for his country to begin with, but he’s definitely a known quantity in their national team.

That helps, particularly when it comes to tournament football where managers often don’t want to take risks.

Now that he’s got himself fit, Rekik can only cross his fingers and wait. The deadline for World Cup squad submissions is November 14th, 23:00 GMT.