Wolves forward Raul Jimenez: Luiz was not to blame

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Players react after Arsenal’s David Luiz (left, ground) clashed with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Raul Jimenez (right, ground) in the Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium, London.

Jimenez suffered a broken skull in a horrific head-to-head clash with Luiz, then playing for Arsenal, in a Premier League game last November.

Luiz was criticized by some at the time, with the Brazilian defender admitting the incident had traumatized him.

But Jimenez, who has made a full recovery and returned to action for Wolves in the Premier League this season, insisted Luiz was not to blame.

He said: I saw him several times. I asked the people in the video and the social media people at the club if they had any different shots of the room.

One of their players goes to the near post and passes in front of me.

If I hadn’t taken this step, I wouldn’t jump back, and I would have jumped in front of him.

Jumping back, he caught up with me. I take 100% responsibility for David. He was leaving with the intention of directing the ball unfortunately, it was on my head.

Jimenez, who previously described how medics told him it was a miracle he survived the injury, admitted he still had no memory of the incident.

He explained: I don’t remember anything. I remember we got to the stadium, I went out to see the pitch, I went to the locker room to change and then the lights went out.

Jimenez was speaking on Mexican radio ahead of his long-awaited return to the national team.

The 30-year-old is set to kick off a turbulent nine-day spell when Mexico host Canada in a World Cup qualifier in the early hours of tomorrow morning UK time.

Further qualifiers against Honduras and El Salvador will follow next, with the latter scheduled for Thursday morning UK time.

This will give Jimenez less than 60 hours of recovery time before Wolves resume their Premier League season at Villa on Saturday afternoon, although head coach Bruno Lage expressed confidence last week that he would be available for the match.

Jimenez will be required to quarantine himself at a bespoke facility upon his return to the UK, although he will be allowed to train and play matches, in accordance with the compromise agreement between the government and the Premier League for players visiting Red List countries. Willy Boly will be subject to the same protocols with the Wolves defender due to Malawi’s Red List visit while on the move with Cote d’Ivoire.

Wolves now have 11 players on an international mission after winger Francisco Trincao received a late call to join the Portugal squad following the withdrawal of Benficas Rafa Silva due to injury.

The club’s top scorer Hwang Hee-chan was scheduled to play for South Korea today when they hosted Syria in a World Cup qualifier.

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