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Had the curse of the metatarsal struck Emile Heskey three weeks ago, it would barely have registered with Steve McClaren, let alone the rest of the nation, but, after his impressive form on his recall to the national team, the foot injury comes as a serious blow to England as well as Wigan Athletic.

Heskey underwent surgery yesterday after a scan confirmed that he had fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot in the opening stages of Wigan’s 1-1 draw at home to Fulham on Saturday. He has no chance of appearing in England’s European Championship qualifying matches at home to Estonia and away to Russia next month but, if the prognosis delivered by Dave Whelan, the Wigan chairman, is correct, the forward should at least be back for the final qualifying match at home to Croatia on November 21.

“It is not serious but it is still six weeks,” Whelan said. “It is such bad luck, bad for Wigan, bad for England. I think he will definitely miss the first England game. We were shocked on Saturday. He just jumped up in the air and came down on his ankle.”

At any other time over the past three years, such a blow would not have had any repercussions for England, with Heskey falling out of favour after the summer of 2004, when, after a disappointing European Championship finals, he left Liverpool for Birmingham City. But, having impressed McClaren this season, he was an unexpected late addition to the squad to cover for the suspension of Peter Crouch against Israel.

Heskey’s performances alongside Michael Owen in the 3-0 victories over Israel and Russia, prompted some to suggest that he should keep his place even when Wayne Rooney returns to the national team next month – with the Manchester United forward scheduled to play against Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday after 5½ weeks out with a foot fracture of his own – but now it appears that any uncertainty that McClaren might have had has eased.

The injury to Heskey comes as a barely-needed reminder to McClaren about the difficulties of planning ahead. The victory over Russia was the first time he had been able (or in the odd case willing) to name an unchanged team as England head coach and, for all the calls for him to do so at Wembley and in Moscow next month, the likelihood is that the personnel will be very different, with Owen Hargreaves, Frank Lampard and Rooney all likely to be back and Gary Neville hoping to be so after six months out with ankle and thigh injuries.

Above all, McClaren will beware the curse of the metatarsal. Since the word first became widely known following David Beckham’s fracture in the build-up to the 2002 World Cup finals, it has almost become a rite of passage for any self-respecting English player. Rooney has suffered at least two such fractures - as well as a more ambiguous “hairline fracture of the foot” on the opening weekend of this season – while Gary Neville, Steven Gerrard, Scott Parker, Ashley Cole, Owen and Ledley King are fellow victims. Heskey has spent three years longing to be back in the company of his former England teammates, but a fractured metatarsal was not quite what he had in mind.