“He had an understanding with the manager that if he played on Saturday, he'd be released from the Wednesday game.

"The manager appears to have changed his mind.

“But this is a personal dispute between the player and the coach. Everton are not to blame and in our view there is nothing that can prevent Marouane from playing on Saturday against Wolverhampton.”

Belgium have no chance of qualifying for the World Cup finals from a group long since won by Spain and the match in Estonia is a dead rubber

But Belgium FA’s director general Jean-Marie Phillips warned: “Fellaini is called for the match with Estonia. If he decides not to come, he knows the consequences.

“Mr Advocaat has asked that the FIFA regulations strictly apply and therefore Marouane may not play this weekend with Everton.

“The coach has talked with Fellaini, but I do not know what he said – I would imagine that he tried to convince him that the operation could be done another time – but he obviously did not succeed. If FIFA decides in Everton's favour we will accept that.”

Fellaini has been suffering from an infection in his wisdom teeth for weeks and has been playing in considerable pain. He has already put off the surgery several times.