Wolves injury news: Raul Jimenez to undergo knee surgery in major blow to Cesar Peixoto

Wolverhampton Wanderers have announced that Raul Jimenez will undergo surgery on a knee injury.

Last month, the 35-year-old was selected for an EFL Cup third round tie against Everton, the objective being for the forward to play 45 minutes before being withdrawn at half time.

However, Jimenez sustained a knee injury during the first half at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, subsequently ruling out him of the Black Country derby versus West Bromwich Albion which followed.

Although Cesar Peixoto justified the decision to select Jimenez and there was hope that he would return sooner rather than later, it was announced on Wednesday night that the club legend would miss the rest of 2026.

Wolves announce Jimenez surgery decision

In an update provided on the club's official website, director of performance Phil Hayward revealed that Jimenez had made little progress from the injury that was sustained four weeks ago.

He said: "Raul injured his left MCL against Everton, which was four weeks ago now and unfortunately the injury has not responded as we expected, so we've decided that the best thing is to have surgery to repair that ligament.

"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.

"We've consulted with several knee specialists and decided the best course of action is to move to surgery to ensure that we are back in control of the time frames and have a clear idea of when he will be back.

"There is a danger that we can keep waiting for things to improve by treating the knee conservatively (without surgery), but if that doesn't happen, then at that stage we need to have surgery and waste more time. 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.

"It’s obviously really disappointing for all of us, but we need to look forward, get the surgery done and start the rehab process as soon as we can to get him back on the pitch helping the team as quickly as we can.

"After surgery, there's a period when you can't do too much whilst the initial wound heals. It is fairly straightforward surgery for an experienced knee surgeon – the ligament is reattached to the tibia and there is no reconstruction required. The first two weeks he’ll be working on the muscles to maintain the bulk, then after two weeks, once through the initial post-operative phase, he can progress the work in the gym and pool and start to build towards full-weight bearing activities at around four weeks.

"He's obviously really disappointed, as we all are. We all hoped that after the initial scans he would have been back pretty quickly, but unfortunately it's not responding at all. He's disappointed, but he's also happy that we've now got a plan in place with real clarity. We can build around that and make sure that we're getting him back in the time frame."

Jimenez injury blow leaves Wolves short in attack

In three games since Jimenez's injury, Wolves have scored just the two goals, and the extended absence for the Mexican leaves Peixoto with a major issue.

Adam Armstrong has just one goal in nine Championship appearances and does not look suited to the role, while Peixoto is yet to place any faith in Newcastle United loanee Sean Neave.

> Click here to read why Peixoto should use Marshall Munetsi as his new number nine until the winter transfer window