Fulham are preparing to announce the signing of Raul Jimenez from Wolverhampton Wanderers after making a surprise pounce for the striker. The 32-year-old was instrumental to Wolves’ success following their promotion to the Premier League in 2018, acting as the talisman in the club’s consecutive seventh place finishes.
The deal first surfaced last week, with business moving rapidly to ensure Marco Silva captured his man, in a deal said to be worth in the region of £5.5m. A fee was agreed almost immediately, with a medical penned in for the Mexican on Monday ahead of making the switch from the Midlands to the capital.
Raúl Jiménez to Fulham, here we go! It’s all agreed between the two clubs, just waiting to exchange and sign all the documents this week ⚪️⚫️🇲🇽
Fee around £5.5m fixed, personal terms to be sealed on Monday then medical.
Exclusive story, confirmed. ✔️ pic.twitter.com/gnY67ZDRN3
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 23, 2023
Selling Jimenez will mark Julen Lopetegui’s ninth summer departure, with the Midlands side making close to £80m in sales with Ruben Neves’ lucrative move to Al-Hilal making the club £47m alone. The Spaniard is leading a new era at Molineux, as the squad transitions away from the individuals that paved the way under Nuno Espirito Santo.
The primary reason for a quick-fire capture from the Cottagers is the expected departure of marksman Aleksandr Mitrovic, who was outraged by the club’s placement of a £52m price tag on him that subsequently halted a move to Al-Hilal. The Serbian was reported to have told relatives of his desire to not represent Fulham again, as he continues his quest to seal a remunerative move.
In Jimenez, Silva will hope to restore the form of the 32-year-old prior to his life-threatening head injury, in which he suffered a fractured skull back in 2020. Before the injury, the Mexican scored 30 goals over his first two Premier League seasons, netting 13 in 2018/19 and 17 in 2019/20 as Wolves’ star forward.
If Silva can get the former goal-machine firing again, Craven Cottage will be given the chance to experience a “special” talent, who was a firm favourite for Nuno during his time at Molineux.
The former Wolves manager was full of praise for the striker back in 2020:
“He is a special player. His motivation is to improve.”
“He has improved in a lot of things, I cannot be specific with one, but if you asked me the other way around there is also a lot of room to improve. He can be better.”
With the deal set to be announced imminently, fans can be excited about the potential of the capture, in a player that has experience in being one of the leading scorers in the Premier League during his career.
