Wolves striker Raul Jimenez ruled out until January after knee surgery confirmed

Wolves confirm Jimenez surgery after MCL injury fails to heal

Wolverhampton Wanderers have confirmed veteran striker Raul Jimenez will have surgery on his left knee this week and is expected to be sidelined for around three months.

The 35-year-old Mexico international was forced off seven minutes before half-time in Wolves’ 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat at Everton on 16 September with a medial collateral ligament injury.

Jimenez has not responded as hoped to treatment in the month since the injury. Wolves director of performance Phil Hayward said the decision for surgery was made after regular scans showed the ligament was not healing as anticipated.

"Unfortunately Raul's injury has not responded as we expected," Hayward said. "Normally the ligament for a fairly low-grade injury would heal on its own, however this has not responded as we were expecting, and after regularly scanning for the last three weeks, the ligament is not healing in the anticipated way."

"So, he'll have the surgery on Friday in London, and then he'll have around three months of rehabilitation before he's ready to play again."

The setback rules Jimenez out until January and leaves Wolves without their experienced forward for the run-in of the autumn Championship fixtures.

Injury updates on Gomes, Traore and Traore

Hayward also provided positive updates on three other injured players.

Rodrigo Gomes is progressing well after an ankle injury involving a couple of ligaments. Hayward said inflammation is still settling and the player is not expected to be a long-term absentee.

"Rodrigo Gomes is progressing well, but it's still early days. He injured a couple of ligaments in the ankle, so it wasn't a straightforward injury. He's still waiting on the inflammation to settle, and then we'll start to build him up and get him back outside as soon as that's settled. It's not going to be a long-term one, so he should be back reasonably quickly."

Bertrand Traore has a hamstring issue in a problematic part of the muscle. Hayward stressed caution to avoid recurrence.

"Bertrand Traore has had a hamstring issue. It's a fairly small injury, however it is in a particularly problematic part of the muscle, which can commonly recur if we're not careful. So, we have to respect that and take our time with it. But it's not a big injury, he's doing really well, working hard and won't be too long."

Boubacar Traore has been out for a couple of weeks with a calf problem and is back on the pitch with rehab coaches.

"Boubacar Traore has been out for a couple of weeks because of a problem with his calf. He's back on the pitch working with the rehab coaches and doing really well. He's progressing nicely and he'll be back in full training in the next week or two. He's responded really well to the treatment."

Wolves sit ninth in the Championship table, outside the play-off places on goal difference only, and are next away to Burnley on Friday evening.