Wolves striker Raul Jimenez has been ruled out until January after learning he needs surgery on his left knee. The 35-year-old Mexico international has not responded as hoped to treatment for the medial collateral ligament injury he suffered in the Carabao Cup defeat at Everton a month ago, and will undergo an operation this week.
Wolves director of performance Phil Hayward said the injury had not healed as expected. "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," he said. Jimenez will have the surgery on Friday in London, followed by around three months of rehabilitation before he is ready to play again.
There is better news on three other injured players. Rodrigo Gomes, who injured a couple of ligaments in his ankle, is progressing well but is still waiting for inflammation to settle before his return is built up. Hayward said he should be back reasonably quickly. Bertrand Traore has a hamstring issue that is fairly small but sits in a problematic part of the muscle, so the club will take its time to avoid a recurrence. Boubacar Traore, who has been out for a couple of weeks with a calf problem, is working with the rehab coaches and should return to full training within the next week or two.
Wolves are ninth in the Championship table, outside the play-off places on goal difference only, and face Burnley away on Friday evening.
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing