Raul Jimenez will leave Wolverhampton Wanderers this summer and join one of the biggest clubs in European football, the always outspoken Pedro Caixinha has told TUTD.
As Rangers fans will tell you, a man who prowled the Ibrox touchline for seven contentious months in 2017 is hardly afraid to make his feelings known.
And when asked about the future of one of the hottest centre-forwards in the game right now, Caixinha was never going to sit on the fence.
Jimenez’s future continues to be called into question after netting 22 goals in 44 games for Wolves this season, with the Mexican international himself admitting to ESPN last month that an offer from the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid may be too good to turn down.
The former Atletico Madrid forward has also been linked with Tottenham and Arsenal, via the Star, although an £80 million price-tag means a move to North London this summer is about as likely as Caixinha returning to Glasgow to take Steven Gerrard’s job.
Yet a coach who has spent much of his post-playing days in Jimenez’s homeland is expecting to see the late-blooming number nine at the heart of one of the summer’s biggest transfer deals.
“He is going to leave Wolves to go one step higher and he is going to continue with that ambition. It is what I would like to see in other Mexican soccer players that have a lot of quality,” Caixinha said, in quotes translated by Record.
“Raul is doing very well, he is a player who should serve as a reference to young Mexican soccer players.”
Unless one of the two Spanish giants come calling, however, Jimenez should not be printing out any transfer requests in the weeks or months to come.
Wolves are one of the most ambitious and forward-thinking clubs in Europe and there is a real chance that they will be playing Champions League football for the very first time next season. Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere.
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