Medical insider: Raul Jimenez may be withdrawn after Wolves injury twist
Mexico may try and force Wolves to allow Raul Jimenez to return to his homeland to help recover from his groin injury.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
The 31-year-old has not played since Wolves’ 0-0 draw with Bournemouth at the end of August.
As quoted by Marca last week (20 September), Mexico boss Gerardo Martino admitted he did not realise how serious Jimenez’s injury was.
“Initially it was referenced as a chronic fatigue issue brought about by three games in a week and his heavily disrupted pre-season programme,” Dinnery told Football Insider correspondent Adam Williams.
“Then Bruno Lage expanded on that and said it was a groin-related problem but he’d be going away with the national team.
“On his return to his homeland, we saw a couple of stories from Mexico saying it was a possibility that Jimenez’s involvement in the World Cup was in question because of this injury.
“These weren’t necessarily played down by the national team boss, Gerardo Martino. He was asked for an update on how things were going with Martinez and I would say he was fairly cagey with his response.
“He obviously didn’t rule him out of the World Cup in Qatar but wasn’t very forthcoming. He spoke about his belief in that he will remain focused on his recovery and rehab and will do everything he can to make himself available and being confident that the player will be OK.
“We’re talking eight weeks from the World Cup so that is a slight worry. It certainly looks like Jimenez will be sidelined for a few weeks more.
“There’s talk that the national team will request that Jimenez returns from his homeland to undegro further rehab with the national team with a view to getting him fit for Qatar.
“At this moment in time, I would say it hangs in the balance. That suggests it’s a lot more serious than it being just a chronic fatigue issue. Now it’s an issue that could keep him out certainly for two-plus months.”
In other news, Kieran Maguire has claimed that Fosun may be set to starve Wolves of cash amid a financial crisis.