Wolves' Raul Jimenez opens up on fightback from horror injury

Petr Cech and Don Goodman managed to recover, while Ryan Mason fought valiantly to get back but was forced into retirement.

Fortunately for Wolves’ Raul Jimenez, he has fallen into the former category, after making a strong return in pre-season and now playing competitively for his club again in the Premier League.

But back in November when Jimenez and Arsenal’s David Luiz clashed heads, it was unclear what the future held for the Wolves star.

With no supporters in the stadium, the sickening noise of the collision could be heard through the TV, while those in the ground watched in horror as he treated on the pitch for several minutes.

Jimenez believes the swift surgery he had in hospital saved his life and the road to recovery then began. When asked if he remembers the incident, Jimenez said: “Not at all. I remember we arrived at the stadium, I left my things in the dressing room and went out with my team-mates to see the pitch.

“Then we returned to the dressing room. I remember that. But then it’s like lights off. I remember nothing else about that.

“I can remember when I first woke up in the hospital. I can remember some other things from the hospital but nothing really clear.”

Since then, Jimenez has watched the collision back on video several times from several different angles and still shows remarkable resilience in discussing it.

Former boss Nuno Espirito Santo suggested Jimenez could make a return before the end of the season, before they collectively decided he should wait. And for the forward that was his biggest challenge as he waited for the green light to return to the game he loves.

He said: “I think the most difficult part was the last month of last season. I felt I was ready but the decision of the surgeons was that my skull hadn’t fully recovered. That’s something that you can’t feel.

“You feel good and prepared and then at the last moment, the MRI or scans told us that it wasn’t fully recovered. That was the most difficult part because you thunk you are ready but you are not.

“It’s not like if I injured my knee because that’s something I could feel when I walked but I felt really good. But it was not my time yet.

“It was a mental thing. I worked on that really well I think. Even when I knew that it was difficult, when I was notified that I would not be playing last season and would have to wait until this season, it was like ‘Pfft...I have to wait another three months to play again’.

“That was a shock in the moment but then 10 minutes later I said ‘OK, I need to continue recovering and keep doing what I’m doing to be ready for next season’.”

Following surgery, Jimenez could not see his family in hospital for two days, due to Covid-19, before he was eventually allowed home. That, as well as the nightmare injury itself, took its toll on his wife Daniela Basso and their young family. Now, the 30-year-old is able to take stock and appreciate what he has.

“It helps you stop and think about things you have never thought about before,” Jimenez added.

“And maybe – although I always do – to enjoy more what you do. Live life in the moment at 100 per cent.

“It doesn’t matter what you do, you have to enjoy it. I have always been a family guy. I’m always there for them, and I still think that’s the best for a person: to be there with their family. The first moment where I thought everything was going to be OK was maybe when I arrived home from the hospital.

“I never thought it was going to be bad. Maybe because I can’t remember the moment. I can’t remember how it felt or if there was a crash or something like that. I’ve been really confident from the first moment. Everyone supported me and did what they thought was best for me. The club has been a really essential part of my recovery.

“The club doctor, physio and my teammates have been there with me at every moment.

“The fans have been sending me cards with ‘get well soon’ and ‘we want you back’. They have been there since the first moment.”

The support for Jimenez off the field has been immense – even from the wider football community.

Chelsea hero Cech, who fractured his skull in 2006 reached out to Jimenez via text after the incident, and even met with the Wolves medical team – bringing his protective headgear with him – to suggest whether Jimenez may benefit from something similar.

Now, Jimenez does wear a headguard – something he will play in for the rest of his career.

Since he first started wearing it in March he has had several different prototypes as he makes subtle changes to suit him. The one he is currently wearing is slightly smaller but more padded on the right side of his head, where the injury occurred, while they are also working on making it comfortable.

He said: “I’m already used to it. I’ve been wearing it since March. It’s not a big difference.I feel confident. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t use it (the headguard), I would play as normal. But the doctors told me that it’s protection to prevent something that in this moment could be more dangerous for me than for any other player.

“I feel good enough to do it without the headguard but I know I have to be in the same line as the doctors and surgeons and they say it’s best for me to use it. There have been some modifications and now it’s almost 100 per cent what I want. I feel really comfortable with the one I wore in the last game.”

Jimenez has been given the all-clear to live his life as normal, however he is still limiting his heading in training to avoid causing any damage. In games, though, he is back to his dominant best and has been fearlessly attacking the ball again. Jimenez said: “It felt really good. I feel now that I am a player again after almost nine months out with this injury. Now I’m training with the team, I did the whole six weeks of pre-season. So I think it was the right moment to come back.

“I was excited (to return to the Premier League). I played in pre-season game but it’s not the same. Now all the fans are allowed to go to the game, it was really good to be back again. On the pitch the some of the Leicester players congratulated for me for being back. I remember at a corner Vardy came to me to congratulate me, and Soyuncu and Maddison and most of the others came to me in different parts of the game too. I felt really good about that.”

Jimenez did experience fans back at Molineux at the final pre-season friendly against Celta Vigo, but after hearing his ‘Si Senor’ chant at Leicester, the striker is now desperate to get back to a full Molineux this weekend. “It’s going to be amazing,” he added. “We had a little taste of it in the last pre-season game against Celta Vigo but it was not a full stadium. Next weekend we are going to have them at full capacity so its going to be really good.

“It was really good (to hear Si Senor). First in the warm-up and then during the game. I felt it was really loud in an away stadium so imagine (what it will be like) in our home with all our fans.

“I’m waiting for that moment.”