336 days, back amongst the goals: Raul Jimenez recovery journey from skull fracture

The moment that all Wolverhampton Wanderers fans had been waiting for came on Sunday. Their talismanic striker, Raul Jimenez, hitting the back of the net as he always did before he suffered a horrific head injury that ruled him out of the game for almost 1 year. The Mexican striker scored his first goal in 336 days for the Premier League side in their Matchday 6 fixture against Southampton on Sunday. 

The life-threatening head injury of Raul Jimenez

On 29th November 2020, Raul Jimenez lined up against Arsenal fully expecting to feast on a shaky Gunners defence and add to his season tally of goals. But in the 13th minute of the match, Jimenez had a head-on collision with Arsenal centre-back, David Luiz. The collision knocked him out and left him unconscious on the turf at the Emirates Stadium.

That was the last Raul Jimenez was seen on the pitch for that season as it was revealed that the Mexican striker had suffered a skull fracture. Thus started his long road back to recovery, with Jimenez admitting that the doctors had told him it was a miracle that he's back playing football. Jimenez resumed training with the Wolves side during the summer pre-season and has so far featured in 6 games for Bruno Lage's side this season.

Raul Jimenez last and first goal before & after head injury

Before Raul Jimenez suffered the horrific skull fracture, he scored his last goal for Wolves against Newcastle United on the 25th of October, 2020 in a Premier League fixture at the Molineux Stadium. Jimenez goals have been crucial for Wolves, having scored 35 Premier League goals up to that point in just 2 full seasons for then manager, Nuno Espirito Santo.

Raul Jimenez' first goal after his skull fracture injury was on Sunday 26th September 2021 against Southampton away at St. Mary's Stadium. Bruno Lage's Wolves side has struggled for goals this season, scoring only 2 (1 was an own goal) in the 5 previous league games of the season. Raul Jimenez hopes he can kick on to continue scoring goals for Wolves as his last 3 EPL games without scoring was the longest he had gone without finding the back of the net in the EPL.