Jimenez, 30, suffered what many feared would be a career-ending injury during a game against Arsenal at The Emirates last November. However, nine months and numerous consultations later, the Mexican striker has returned to lead Wolverhampton Wanderers’ charge under new head coach Bruno Lage.
Raul Jimenez said: “I always thought it was like an ankle injury or a knee injury and after my recovery I’ll be back to do what I love doing. I never thought about finishing my career. There was a chance of that, but I was always confident that I was going to return.”
As Jimenez lay motionless on the turf last year, his football career paled in significance to what could have been lost had medics – and his teammates to a certain extent – not responded so rapidly.
Raul Jimenez said: “Since the first moment they told me what happened, the risks. Because they are doctors they have to tell you the truth and you have to take it. Sometimes this is not what you want to hear but it’s their job to tell you that. Since the beginning, they were really supportive of me. The surgeons, the doctors, they were (supportive) in all moments with me. They told me it was like a miracle to be there. OK, the skull fracture, the bone broke and there was a little bit of bleeding inside the brain. It was pushing my brain to the inside and that is why the surgery had to be quick. It was a really good job by the doctors and I am back here.”
In conversation with around 20 journalists via Zoom from the club’s training ground, Jimenez discussed the incident at length and the long road to recovery which followed. For the most part Jimenez coasted along with the support of his partner Daniela, his young daughter Arya and his friends and colleagues at Compton, but there was one moment when frustration really set in.
Raul Jimenez said: At the beginning it was easy because I was just at home, sometimes coming here to the training ground to walk and move a little bit. Then I started my rehab, I did some different things in the gym and then outside on the pitch by myself. The last month of last season, I felt tired of doing the same thing and not being able to play. I felt that I was ready, but it was a decision of the surgeons. My skull hadn’t fully recovered and it’s something you can’t feel. You feel good, you feel prepared, then at the last moment the MRI scans would tell us that it wasn’t fully recovered. That was the most difficult part. You think you are ready, but you aren’t.”
Aside from the scar down the right side of his head, and the protective headband, nothing has really changed. Jimenez was told to avoid alcohol during the early stages of his recovery, which wasn’t an issue.
Raul Jimenez said: “It was not a problem for me because I never consume alcohol but that was a really strict point. That was at the beginning when it just started. Now I can – but I don’t! The doctors and the surgeons have told me that I can live my life like before.”
Heading is such an enormous part of Jimenez’s arsenal on a football field that it needs perfecting on the training ground. Prior to the injury Jimenez would spend large chunks of sessions working on it – and he still does, but the number of balls he heads during training is being limited at the moment.
Raul Jimenez explained: “If I have to header, I’m going to header. If we are doing crossing or something like that, OK I can do some of them with the head but we want to put more balls for me so I can finish with my legs.”
Lage also told Jimenez that he wouldn’t need to attack the ball at set pieces during the team’s early pre-season friendlies as he adjusted to life back on the pitch. The only difference is the aforementioned headband, which Jimenez will wear for the rest of his playing career.
Raul Jimenez said: “It’s had some modifications and now it’s almost what I want. With the one in the last game I felt really comfortable. It was all about hitting that first ball in training with the head and then the rest are like it was before. At the beginning it was just a prototype to cover this area (points to side of head). I started training with no contact, so I then needed (something different), so we needed one that was more padded. Now, since that moment, we’ve had three or four that have had modifications to be more comfortable, so in pre-season I used a bigger one. Now it’s a bit smaller but this side can’t change, that’s what covers me from any impact. If it was me, I wouldn’t use it. I would play as normal. But the doctor has told me that it’s protection to prevent something that in this moment could be more dangerous for me than any other player. I know I have to be in the same line as the doctors and the surgeons, and they say it’s best for me to use it.”
In the game at the King Power Jimenez played as he would have done 12 months ago, fighting for every ball and putting his body on the line for the old gold cause. There isn’t any fear when he rises to head the ball and he’s even studied the footage of the clash with David Luiz to examine what went wrong.
Raul Jimenez said: “I asked the physios to send me videos from different sides of the pitch. I like to see what happened because for me it’s like it never happened because I don’t remember. It was like normal. I have never been, like, getting scared. Sometimes you see videos of a broken ankle or a tibia and you feel it. It wasn’t even you but you feel it in your body. It’s not the same, maybe, with mine because it was shocking, the impact and then I hit the floor. But it didn’t scare me. I wanted more videos from different sides, to see different aspects, who was marking, if I didn’t make two steps in front to the corner. I go to attack the ball from the corner and at the last minute take two steps in front and I had to jump backwards. They are different things that, all together, made what happened. The first moment when I thought everything was going to be OK was when I arrived home from the hospital. I never thought it was going to be bad. I was really confident from the first moment.”
Jimenez is thankful for the millions of supportive messages he received and revealed how Leicester players – including Jamie Vardy, James Maddison and Caglar Soyuncu – sought him out at the weekend to congratulate him on his return. Former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, who famously played on with a skullcap after fracturing his skull, even travelled to meet Jimenez to advise him ahead of his comeback.
Raul Jimenez revealed: “I have been in contact with him, with Petr, he text me. He was there. Once we went to a game in London, he went to the hotel to meet the doctor to bring one of his helmets to see if we can do something similar. It is one of these things where the people are there with you even if they don’t know you, they are there to help you.”
Jimenez’s people will be present at Molineux on Sunday for a reunion with former manager Nuno Espirito Santo, now head coach at Tottenham Hotspur. Victory is far from guaranteed for a Wolves team still having a few teething issues under Lage, but a rousing rendition of Si Senor is a certainty.
Raul Jimenez said: “It was really loud in an away stadium, so now imagine in our home with all our fans. I’m waiting for that moment.”
