Reports from Egypt suggest that the dead man, whose body had been lying at the house for five days, was likely electrocuted as he tried to steal cables from the property near the city of Mahalla Al-Kubra, 62 miles north of Cairo, which had been undergoing conversion work into an office for a charity.

Elneny was absent from Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat against Lyon at the weekend but this is not thought to be connected to the incident with the Arsenal midfielder only recently returning to England after his Africa Cup of Nations duty for Egypt.

Arsenal team-mates Sead Kolasinac and Mesut Ozil also experienced distressing events in recent days, when their car was attacked by knife-wielding thugs in London.

Elneny’s father, Nasser, is said to have reassured the Arsenal man in a phone call that the local prosecutor’s office believes the incident was an accident and the case will be closed.