Christian Kabasele has been named in Belgium’s preliminary World Cup squad.

The Watford centre-back is one of 28-players named in Roberto Martinez’s initial selection, which must be trimmed to 23 by June 4.

Kabasele’s call-up comes in spite of the 27-year-old being forced to contend with injury throughout last season and missing almost four months of the campaign.

After injuring his hamstring in late January, he returned to the Watford squad in April and played the final four games of the season.

His return to the Watford ranks saw an upturn in form and Kabasele was a reassuring presence alongside Craig Cathcart at the tail end of the campaign.

An injury suffered in the final day defeat to Manchester United briefly threatened to scupper his chances of making the plane to Russia, but those fears were misplaced and he has made a full recovery.

Kabasele’s sole outing for Belgium came in November 2016 when he featured in a friendly against the Netherlands, but he was also named in the Red Devils squad for Euro 2016.

He is one of 14 players currently plying their trade for a Premier League side to be named in the Belgium squad.

Kabasele is the third Watford player to be handed a national call-up for the World Cup, after Andre Carrillo and Nordin Amrabat were selected by Peru and Morocco respectively.

Blegium's World Cup campaign sees them take on Panama, Tunisia and England in the group stage.

Radja Nainggolan was the big casualty from Martinez’s initial squad as the Roma man was left out.