Wolves have issued the latest update on Raul Jimenez and continue to believe he will return to action this season, as the Mexico star continues his incredible recovery from surgery on the fractured skull he suffered in late November.
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Jimenez, 29, has stepped up his recovery in recent weeks and has been involved in small parts of team training and Wolves’ leading striker should return to action in the final months of the campaign.
His manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, is delighted with the progress Jimenez has made and said he and the medical staff at the Premier League club are astounded by the recovery the El Tri star has made, so far, and believe he can return very soon.
“Very positive. Thank God he’s ok. He’s starting to integrate into some parts of the training session, and we have him around,” Santo said. “The key moment was the fantastic assistance that he had immediately when the incident happened. That was the key moment. That was avoid anything terrible from happening and they did really well.
“Seeing his progress, with always the awareness that he has to follow the protocols, with this moment he’s avoiding any sort of contact situations, and hopefully soon he will integrate 100 per cent with the squad, then with the fitness and then back to the pitch where we want him. There is no timeframe because it’s all based on his progression and based on the protocols that we still have to attend to with the specialist.”
Raul Jimenez close to a return
When Raul Jimenez walks back onto the pitch it will be an emotional moment for him, his family, everyone connected with Wolves and Mexico, and every single fan of this game.
Many speculated that Jimenez would struggle to return after the horrendous head injury he suffered but here we are, just over three months later, and he’s closing in on a return to action.
Jimenez still has some big hurdles to overcome, such as returning to full team training and becoming comfortable with heading the ball and other physical challenges, but all of these updates from Nuno Espirito Santo have been hugely promising.
Wolves have missed their star center forward badly over the last few months and they will ease him back into action and not risk any long-term damage.
Looking at their schedule for the final few months of the season, if Jimenez returned for their final nine games (following the international break at the end of March) then he’d come into a stretch of very winnable games followed by clashes with Tottenham, Everton and Manchester United to finish the season.
Losing Jimenez to injury has likely cost Wolves a spot in Europe for next season but there’s no reason why they can’t finish in the top 10 as they’ve looked much better in recent weeks.
As for Mexico, well, they will be hoping Jimenez is firing on all cylinders by the time the Gold Cup rolls around this summer and especially for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers which begin in September.
