It was discovered that his hamstring injury sustained in England's victory over Morocco is more serious than first thought.

A scan at England's training camp in La Manga confirmed that the 34-year-old striker would need at least two weeks to recover from the problem and he is set to fly back to England.

Wright had hoped wearing the England shirt in France 98 would be the pinnacle of his career and coach Glenn Hoddle was keen to have the striker and his infectious good humour around the England camp.

Hoddle wanted high-spirited Wright around the team

Wright was trying to tackle a Moroccan defender when he went down and his hamstring was immediately encased in ice.

His injury was not thought too serious after the game and Hoddle was confident that Wright would recover before the finals in France.

Hoddle had said he would not make a decision until after the weekend, but following the scan it became apparent Wright would not recover in time.

Getting ready to leave the England camp on Thursday, the player could not hide his dismay.

He said: "I'm so disappointed, above all because I think England can go a very long way in this World Cup and I wanted so much to be part of that with the boys.

"No manager has shown greater faith in me than Glenn Hoddle.

"I can promise the boys that they won't have a bigger supporter in France or at home than me."

The news is a blow to a player whose last season had started so well.

At club level, Wright scored the goals he needed to overtake Cliff Bastin's club record 178 goals, topping that mark with a hat-trick against Bolton in September.

The goals kept coming in the first month of campaign with Wright having nine to his credit by the time England travelled to Rome for their final World Cup qualifier against Italy.

Wright, playing up front in the absence of skipper Alan Shearer, gave a tireless display and was inches away from winning the match in injury time.

His record tally of goals for Arsenal made Wright a Highbury legend

As he walked off the pitch Wright spotted a British TV camera and bellowed: "We are going to the World Cup. Glenn Hoddle please pick me."

But after that things went downhill for the marksman, who only scored two more goals for the Gunners before his injury curse surfaced when he damaged his hamstring in the FA Cup third round replay at Port Vale.

A subsequent groin problem meant that Wright had made just two brief appearances from the bench before Arsenal clinched the Premiership with Wright on the field as they completed a 4-0 thrashing of Everton to be crowned as champions.

Hoddle, who is likely to invite Wright to join Jamie Redknapp in visiting the squad at times during their stay in France, admitted: "I am very, very disappointed. Ian's made a gallant effort to make the squad for the World Cup but has had the most wretched bad luck. It just was not meant to be."