England’s opening World Cup opponents, Tunisia, have suffered a shattering blow as their star player, Youssef Msakni, sustained a knee ligament injury on Saturday that will force him to miss the finals tournament in Russia this summer.

Msakni, an artful midfielder considered the creative heart of his country, tore a cruciate ligament while playing in a league match for his Qatari club, Al-Duhail, in a 5-2 victory against Al-Sailiya. When Tunisia’s manager, Nabil Maloul, said last month that for Tunisia to go to the World Cup without Msakni would be akin to Argentina competing without Lionel Messi, he did not anticipate that nightmare scenario would become a reality. Msakni’s missed Tunisia’s two friendlies last month with a minor muscle injury and Maloul was looking forward to him returning.

Msakni confirmed the news in a post on his Instagram page, saying he is “extremely sad to have sustained this injury that deprives me of the season run-in with Duhail and participation in the World Cup with Tunisia”.

The 27-year-old made his international debut while a teenager and has been Tunisia’s talisman since 2013, when his imagination and technical excellence lit up the Africa Cup of Nations. He scored a hat-trick in his country’s 4-1 win against Guinea in November, a result that went a long way towards securing qualification for the World Cup, where Tunisia play England in their first game on 18 June.

Msakni’s injury also casts doubt on a possible move to the Premier League. He has been playing in Qatar for the past five season despite regular interest from European clubs but had hinted he may be open to a move after the World Cup. He has been identified as a potential replacement for Riyad Mahrez if the Algerian were to leave Leicester City.

The loss of Msakni increases Tunisia’s reliance on Wahbi Khazri, the Sunderland forward on loan at Rennes. The importance of Montpellier’s Ellyes Skhiri and Troyes’s Saif-Eddine Khaoui, two France-born players who made their debuts for Tunisia last month, also increases.