Fulham centre forward Raul Jimenez has revealed that he has a happy go lucky approach after overcoming the horrible head injury he suffered when playing for Wolves four years ago.
The Mexican international will face his former side at Craven Cottage this afternoon in a rich vein of form having sparked his country’s sensational comeback from 2-0 down in the Nations League quarter-final against Honduras in midweek. Jimenez, now 33, told the Times that he is now pain free after fracturing his skull in a challenge with David Luiz at Arsenal in 2024.
The striker said:
“I can’t remember anything. The last thing I remember, I go out to see the pitch. Then I came back to the dressing room to change. But I don’t remember changing my clothes to get ready for the warm-up. And then after that, I remember some things in the hospital. But not everything. I remember the doctors came to make some tests, balance tests, visual tests. They bring me food. And I remember talking on the phone with my family. But not everything. I was in the hospital for five days, I think.
Since the beginning they told me, ‘OK, we need to see how you get through this. To see if you are going to be able to play.’ And I said, ‘OK.’ What can I say? It’s their opinion, their point of view. But I was thinking, ‘It’s my dream. It’s what I want to do.’ I remember speaking with [then Wolves manager] Bruno Lage and saying, ‘If it’s there where you need me, I’m going to be there because it’s what I do.’ I think the first two games he did not put me there, in the pre-season. But then when the Premier League started, I started to be there again. It’s going to be really important for me,” he says, “for my career, to finish on top.”
Jimenez decided to join Fulham after receiving a phone call from Marco Silva, who told the striker that he felt he could fit into the club’s future.
“He told me since the beginning, ‘I know you can do more than you are doing now. And here you have the chance to show everyone that you can do it.’ He doesn’t want just a striker to be there in the box. He wants me to help the team to build, to create chances. And that’s what fits with me because I like to be that guy. Not to be there in the box waiting for balls. I like to be moving to create chances to make some assists.”
He is thrilled at the memory of a brilliant back-heeled assist for Andreas Pereira at Manchester City last month.
“I really enjoyed that one. It was like I did the back-heel and I was thinking, ‘Let’s hope someone is there to score.’ And I turned around and I saw Andreas and he scored. I was really happy in that moment. I hoped someone was taking my place, because normally the striker needs to be there. But I did another movement. And he told me, ‘When I saw you with the ball there, I said I need to be there because I know you. And I know you can do those kind of things.’
Jimenez admits that he is targeting a home World Cup with Mexico in 2026 – having already experienced the joy of winning a major medal with his country, when he came off the bench at Wembley to win an Olympic gold medal at London 2012.
“Yeah, that’s what I want. It’s still one and a half years for the World Cup. But I think I’m in a good moment now, in a good shape. And I want to continue like this all this time to help the team, the national team, to do a very good World Cup. It’s something that I have inside of me that I have been to three other World Cups, but never been the main striker. When I was 23, I went to my first one and there were other strikers that were in a very good moment. And I hope I continue with this run to be the [main] one in the next World Cup.”
The experienced forward believes Fulham have taken confidence from their dramatic derby comeback against Brentford before the international break – ‘it was really, really amazing … when you win like that, it’s really good” – and wants to repay Silva’s faith in him.
“There’s a feeling, it’s always there, because sometimes we talk between us and we think that we can achieve something more. I was almost losing everything, even my life. So I’m trying to enjoy football as much as I can. Everything, not just football, everything I try to enjoy more.”
