Inter Milan have confirmed Romelu Lukaku has picked up another injury after making his return to the Serie A team's squad last week.
The news will come also be a blow for Belgium boss Roberto Martinez ahead of the World Cup, too, with Martinez recently telling talkSPORT how much he valued the centre-forward.
Injury problems are set to hold Lukaku back once again
The Serie A club confirmed Lukaku had picked up a fresh injury in training this week, with the star suffering from a strain on his left thigh.
"Lukaku underwent medical examinations at the Humanitas Clinic in Rozzano this morning, highlighting a strain in the myocardial scar of the femoral biceps of the left thigh," Inter said in a statement on Monday.
The 29-year-old had spent the last two months on the sidelines having sustained an ankle injury in August.
Last week's Champions League victory over Viktoria Plzen marked his first game back since his recovery, as the Chelsea loanee got on the scoresheet in the 4-0 win.
Lukaku then featured again for his side in Serie A three days later, coming on to play 22 minutes in the second half of the 3-0 victory over Sampdoria.
Now, following his new injury setback, Lukaku will be out of the squad again and will miss his side's Champions League clash with Bayern Munich on Tuesday, which is live on talkSPORT 2.
Martinez was full of praise for his Belgian star
With the World Cup just 20 days away, Lukaku's chances of competing for his country now look slim, too.
Just last week Red Devils boss Martinez told talkSPORT Lukaku has more talent than people make out, despite his below-par spell at Chelsea.
"When you see a player like Romelu Lukaku who can do everything as a [No.] 9, you go into the [game knowing] you're going to be judged on everything you do," Martinez said.
"I think a lot of people don't [misjudge] his exceptional quality which is scoring goals. You look at his stats, the way he's done it over the years, he is a goalscorer.
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Lukaku endured a nightmare spell for Chelsea after his £97.5m move, scoring 15 goals in all competitions, but Martinez says his form didn't reflect how good he can be
"Now, I've seen so many times that he gets criticised for the things that he doesn't do, which is totally unfair. The perfect player doesn't exist.
"Even Lionel Messi doesn't use his right foot, or control the aerial play, you can always find aspects in any player that they're not good at."
"I don't think we've seen the best, consistent [version of him]," Martinez added. "His best season has been in Serie A with Inter Milan in the first spell.
"I think that's where he became more mature and he became a player that can really lead a team. You don't get many goalscorers that can lead a team.
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Lukaku will be hoping he can bounce back before Qatar
"I think we saw him become that in Italy. It was a difficult move to go to Chelsea, in his heart he'd joined a team who'd just won the Champions League who went through many difficulties for him to fit in the way the team was playing.
"But for me if you look at his consistency in the national team, he's broke all their goalscoring records and he's someone that can really give you exactly what you want from a No. 9 as he's got so many profiles as one player."
However, now it looks as though Belgium will have to go to Qatar without their main striker.
France's Paul Pogba will also miss out on this winter's tournament having suffered a setback on a knee injury sustained in the summer.
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