Wolves striker Raul Jimenez sparks excitement as FPL Insider reveals he has transferred himself into his own fantasy team… but Mexican is still not allowed any physical contact after fracturing his skull in November
- Striker Raul Jimenez has not been in action for Wolves since last November
- The Mexican fractured his skull following a sickening clash with David Luiz
- He is still recovering but has now sparked excitement over a potential return
- FPL Insider tweeted that Jimenez transferred himself back into his fantasy team
Raul Jimenez has fuelled excitement among Wolves fans after transferring himself back into his own fantasy football team.
The move was revealed on Twitter on Saturday by FPL Insider – a Norwegian fantasy football expert that entered infamy back in February when disclosing that several Aston Villa stars had substituted out Jack Grealish from their teams, with the England player subsequently missing a long period of football through injury.
The social media post has excited Wolves fans ahead of Monday night’s Premier League encounter at home to West Ham.
Raul Jimenez is training with Wolves currently, but still isn’t allowed any physical contact
Fantasy football expert FPL Insider revealed Jimenez transferred himself into his own team
Wolves have been without their star striker since November last year after fracturing his skull in a 2-1 win at Arsenal following a sickening clash of heads with David Luiz.
However, the fantasy football move appears too premature as sessions involving physical contact are still deemed too risky for the 29-year-old Mexican striker.
Wolves hope Jimenez may soon be able to head the ball again, albeit in a limited, cautious fashion initially.
Jimenez recently linked up with Mexico’s squad ahead of last Saturday’s friendly against Wales in Cardiff, although he guarded against a setback by wearing a protective headband during team drills and skipped contact training with the rest of Gerardo Martino’s men.
It is not yet clear exactly when Jimenez will return to competitive action and Sportsmail recently reported that Wolves will block him from playing for Mexico at this summer’s Olympics if he doesn’t return for them this season.
Jimenez has not played since he suffered a fractured skull in a sickening incident in November
Mexico boss Martino said last week that he was hopeful Jimenez would be available for the Games but his Wolves counterpart Nuno Espirito Santo insisted: ‘The moment it is clear he can play for Wolves then anything can happen but, first, he must play for us.
‘With all the respect to his national team coach it’s our decision. I understand he is positive and wants to count on Raul for the Olympics but we have to be patient here. We have to make the right decisions, not make any kind of mistake and respect the doctors.’
Meanwhile, the FPL Insider Twitter account tracks the online fantasy football profiles of Premier League players and staff and tweets out when they transfer in or out one of their real-life colleagues.
And the account caused an uproar in February when revealing Grealish was an injury doubt ahead of the clash with Leicester by disclosing that several Villa stars took him out of their fantasy teams.
Two days later, Grealish missed Villa’s 2-1 defeat by Leicester through injury, with Foxes manager Brendan Rodgers admitting afterwards that he had heard rumours over the midfielder’s fitness.
The FPL Insider account caused uproar when revealing Jack Grealish’s injury in February
At the time, Villa boss Dean Smith vowed to reprimand the source of the leak and it is believed his players and staff were banned from playing fantasy football amid concerns over secrecy.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, described the issue as ‘unprofessional and unethical’ amid the furore.
Following the uproar, it was revealed by Sportsmail in March that staff from top-flight teams had been in touch with the owner of the account – a Norwegian Aston Villa fan named Henning – to request that he no longer discloses their names and job titles when tweeting out their fantasy transfers as they feared disciplinary action from their clubs.
Henning later revealed he would no longer publish this information for backroom staff, but any changes made by players would still be tweeted out, which has left clubs vulnerable to more team news hitting social media.