Long-term injury victim Mirko Vucinic’s 2016/17 involvement continues to be in serious doubt after he was absent from the Al Jazira squad which travelled to Egypt on Friday for the Arabian Gulf Super Cup.
Vucinic, 32, has not played competitively for the President’s Cup holders since tearing cruciate ligaments last November.
Confusion has since surrounded the centre forward’s availability, with coach Henk ten Cate stating he was “months” away from a return to action on August 22 and the player himself then contradicting this three days later by saying he expected to feature in Tuesday’s marquee match against Arabian Gulf League champions Al Ahli.
But his name was absent from the Pride of Abu Dhabi’s roster for the trip to Cairo, repeating the previous snub from the list supplied to the Pro League Committee for domestic matches.
Unwanted Brazil playmaker Thiago Neves has instead received a stay of execution, joining Peru forward Jefferson Farfan, South Korea centre midfielder Park Jong-woo and Morocco schemer Mbark Boussoufa in the four-player foreign quota – which can be changed until the transfer window shuts on October 20.
Ex-Juventus star Vucinic – who hit 25 top-flight goals in 23 games during his 2014/15 debut campaign – was involved in a pre-season camp, but couldn’t play matches.
A request from Montenegro to involve him in the international break at the start of this month had to be turned down by Jazira on medical grounds.
