With Raul Jimenez being currently the biggest star in Mexican football, everyone in his home country has been speaking about him in the local media.
This week, AS managed to interview former national team striker Guillermo Franco to talk a little about the Wolverhampton Wanderers star.
It turns out that the 43-year-old has some insight. That’s because he featured in the Premier League for West Ham United back in the 2009/10 season.
His five goals and three assists in 23 appearances for the Hammers doesn’t sound like bad statistics. Still, that wasn’t enough for him to stay at West Ham, and he admits he struggled to adapt to English football.
“It’s a league where you have to be not 100%, but ask for extra. Physically it’s very exhausting, personally, the day to day is very hard, the weather isn’t with you, but nevertheless you have to stay at a great level to continue growing,” Franco told AS.
“So for that and many other things, full credit to Raul for doing what he does and congratulations to him.”
“All the merit goes to Raul because I repeat it, I lived it, nobody told me about it. We see him shining but the day to day is when one suffers, so total admiration and merits for Raul.”
Franco was signed by West Ham on a free move from Spanish side Villarreal in 2009. He left the Hammers after only one year at the club, and then played for Velez Sarsfield, Pachuca and Chicago Fire until retiring in 2012.
