Fulham winger Adama Traoré has recalled the horrifying moment he witnessed teammate Raúl Jiménez’s sickening head injury for Wolves against Arsenal in 2020.
The Fulham forward has been speaking to Fox Sports, relayed by Medio Tempo, about his now Fulham teammate and the infamous incident at the Emirates.
Jiménez was left with a fractured skull almost four years ago after an accidental collision with Arsenal defender David Luiz during a corner kick.
The moment was a sickening one for all that were watching as the striker was treated on the pitch by medical officials before being whisked away for eventual surgery to save his life.
He spent the majority of the following year recovering, spending an initial 79 days on the treatment table for the injury and missing 17 games for Wolves before then needing a furth 148 days to find his fitness.
After a long struggle at Wolves and then Fulham he is now back to his best for the latter, bagging three goals and one assist in seven league games this season.
His skull fracture is now firmly in the past and something he wants to move on from, but Traoré, who was on the pitch that fateful day, admits that’s not an easy thing to do.
“It was a very sad day because, what you think as a player, a teammate and being Raúl, for me the most important thing is that he was okay,” he said.
“It was quite hard, I heard the ‘crack’ of the crash, how he screamed like he was dying, it was very hard.
“What we asked the doctor was if Raúl was okay, what was wrong, what had happened to him. Entering the dressing room everything was silent, stares at the floor, it was quite hard.
“The injury was a shame, I don’t remember if he had scored like 17 goals, big clubs came looking for him. Raúl has always been an incredible, complete player.
“We don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t been injured, but what makes me happy is that he has been able to return to football, to score goals and to be well with his family.”
