Still far from the striker Wolverhampton Wanderers were used to, Raúl Jiménez is trying his best to get back to his former self, but injuries keep getting in the way.
The Mexican has only played three games in the league this season before missing the Southampton and Manchester City clashes, leaving Wolves short up front following the serious injury sustained by Sara Kalajdzic.
That’s why they brought in Diego Costa on a free, but it’s been a long time since the Spain international has played in the Premier League, meaning he’s a bit of an unknown at the moment.
In the meantime, Jiménez was called up to the Mexico squad by Tata Martino.
This suggested he could play a part in the upcoming games planned for the international break, but that won’t be the case, as the national team manager made it clear the Wolves man was still injured.
Asked if there was a chance he could miss the World Cup, Martino replied, relayed by Marca: “I would like to think not, that there is very much time for him to recover and play with Wolves. I have high expectations, and I look at him the same way as I did 20-30 days ago. I never thought we would reach this situation. I didn’t think that the thing was so serious, but we need to pay attention to it.
“As the days go by and the World Cup approaches, we have to be attentive. We are giving him everything we can to recover.”
He then reiterated there was ‘no chance’ the Wolverhampton striker would play in the next two games, and the player is ‘working on rehabilitation’ at this moment in time.
This will be welcomed by Wolves, who will also want to ensure the injury isn’t aggravated, because, World Cup aside, they will need him to be fit to help them climb back up the Premier League table, with Bruno Lage’s side currently sitting in 17th after 7 games.
While Martino isn’t sure when he’ll return, Marca do state that Jiménez could be out ‘for a couple more weeks’.
