By Jose Castro
After a couple of outstanding seasons with Wolverhampton Wanderers in Premier League, where they even made it to the UEFA Europa League in the 2019-20 season, Raúl Jiménez’s performances have diminished in the past months.
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His bad streak began once he got injured in the head, as it kept him away from the pitches for over nine months and especially during the first months of his rehabilitation it was unclear if he’d be able to play soccer again.
But since he returned to activity, Jiménez has been lacking the final touch, as has scored just six goals in the season for Wolves, as well as four assistances. His bad shape has to do with the fact that Wolves sold Adama Traoré, who was his strongest connection on the pitch.
But there’s another reason why his performances haven’t been as good as in past seasons, something that was visible during last Sunday’s game in Turf Moor, when they lost 1-0 against Burnley on a game where Jiménez couldn’t contribute at all.
Since the departure of Nuno Espírito Santo, Jiménez hasn’t found a way to reconnect with his teammates, something that Bruno Lage has tried to solve without much luck, as he’s far from the 17 goals he scored in the 2019-20 season.
Even in the 2020-21 season, when he only got to play 10 games, Jiménez was on pace of reaffirming himself as one of the top strikers in Premier League, as he scored 4 goals. But on the current season, on his search of finding him a place on the starting XI to help him regain his streak, Lage has done the contrary.
Against Burnley, Jiménez didn’t start the game as the forward, instead, Lage decided to start him as a right-winger, a position he doesn’t know how to fulfill. As if that wasn’t enough, he finished the game playing behind the forward, taking away one of his strengths, the aerial power.
It’s clear that Raúl Jiménez needs a change of air, either is with a new club -he’s been linked to Bundesliga side Bayern Munich, although there’s no formal offer-, or adding players that can help him recover his shape, like Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, who is on the Wolves’ radar.
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