Nuno Espirito Santo
Wolverhampton Wanderers will discover whether Raul Jimenez is ready to resume his playing career this afternoon. Speaking at his pre-Everton press conference,
Nuno said: “As we speak he’s in the meeting with the specialist and our doctor. Hopefully we will have positive news this afternoon. From there we will decide and see how he’s going to be involved.”
Nuno said: “We have a lot of boxes to tick,” he explained. “There’s a lot of things after today that we need to look at and decide. He has to do an MRI, a scan, psychological tests, then start impact with the ball on the head. The meeting is now, when we have all the information we will sit down and carefully look at what to do and how to do it.”
A return next season seems far more likely but if Jimenez is given the all-clear he could play some part in Wolves’ final match against Manchester United, which will be played in front of supporters at Molineux on Sunday. Everton will almost certainly come too soon for Jimenez, 30, with Wolves poised to set off for tomorrow’s match later today.
Nuno said “It’s something that I don’t think about now because we are waiting for the decision. But we depart from Compton at 5pm.”
Nuno will definitely be without Daniel Podence at Goodison Park after the Portuguese winger underwent surgery on Monday to correct a groin injury. The operation will rule Podence out of this summer’s Euros but Nuno hopes to have him back in contention for the beginning of the new Premier League season.
Nuno said “It went well and now it’s about him recovering. We hope he’ll be fit for the beginning of August and that’s more or less the schedule we have for Daniel.”
The Mexican striker hasn’t played since fracturing his skull in the 2-1 win over Arsenal at The Emirates in November. He is meeting a specialist alongside Wolves doctor Matt Perry today and Nuno Espirito Santo will imminently learn whether his star man is ready to return.
