Raul Jimenez exclusive: Fulham striker confident he has reached his peak after overcoming challenging journey from skull fracture

"It feels wonderful to be back."

Raul Jimenez believes he has finally rediscovered himself after his sickening head injury in November 2020.

The life-threatening moment saw the then-Wolves man knocked unconscious in a match against Arsenal following a horrific clash of heads with Gunners defender David Luiz.

It took Jimenez nine months to return from fracturing his skull to playing again - but in reality, it has taken the Fulham striker over four years to truly recover.

Six goals in all competitions this season and a classy backheeled assist against Manchester City in October shows he has recaptured his magic.

"It has been a long, long journey," he exclusively tells . "My first year was just recovery, doing some exercises that I never imagined I was going to do, like just strengthening my neck with a helmet and different things.

"Then coming back to the Premier League to face the games again, it was really good and amazing.

"After all those things, maybe the doctors were not that confident that I was going to make it to play again. But it was never out of my mind that I was coming back.

"I came back a year after, but I think I came back to my best version not too long ago, so I'm happy to be back.

"I still have much to give for Fulham and for football."

A turning point for the Mexican came just before the third anniversary of his head injury.

A goal in Fulham's 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa in November last year ended his 33-game scoring drought in the Premier League. Since that strike, Jimenez has netted 12 goals in all competitions for the Cottagers, including five in the league this season.

"I knew when the first one came, they were going to be coming," he says. "Well, they came but then after I unfortunately got an injury, I broke that momentum.

"But it's football that things happen and then at the end, I finished the season with two goals at Luton.

"This season I started on the bench, then when I started playing I started to score goals as well.

"I know I have five goals, it maybe could be eight or nine, but it's like this, sometimes you're going to score, sometimes you're going to miss. But I'm going to keep trying and keep going for that."

'I'm playing with freedom now'

A carefree attitude is behind his resurgence, which was key to his "great finish" in Fulham's draw against Arsenal earlier this month.

"I feel really good, playing free," he reveals. "My first year here at Fulham, it wasn't my best. Now this year has been better.

"I'm trying to do my best every game, helping the team with goals, assists and creating spaces for other players to score.

"I like to be here and playing with that freedom. It's not that I don't mind if I miss a ball or if I don't score a goal but it's something that, 'Okay, if I miss there's going to be the next one and the next one I'm going to do it right', so I have that feeling that I can do better things when I'm free."

Jimenez's renaissance has much to do with Fulham boss Marco Silva.

The Portuguese took a gamble on the ex-Benfica forward in July 2023 after signing him from Wolves for £5.5m.

At that time, Jimenez had not scored in the Premier League since March 2022 raising serious doubts over whether he was a suitable replacement for the talismanic Aleksandar Mitrovic following his big-money move to Saudi Arabia.

But despite a slow start, Jimenez is now repaying Silva's faith.

"We trusted him when no one in the Premier League trusted him," Silva said of Jimenez last month.

"We are the ones that trusted him in a difficult moment of his career. We are really pleased with his momentum and the way we helped him get back to his best again."

It is no wonder Jimenez speaks so glowingly of the 47-year-old.

"He's [Silva] really important," he reveals. "He called me last summer [2023] and he told me that he wanted me to be here. He wanted me to be the striker here in the team.

"They were looking for one and he thought that it was a really good idea because he knew I still had it.

"He told me the last game we played against you when I was at Wolves, I knew you had it so I'm thinking about you and I want you to come. So that confidence brings you more confidence."

'I'm like a big brother to Muniz'

Healthy competition with fellow striker Rodrigo Muniz is also driving Jimenez's rejuvenation.

With eight more Premier League starts and four more goals in all competitions, 33-year-old Jimenez is belying the decade age gap between them.

He says of his relationship with Muniz: "I think it's one of the best rivalries if you want to call it that, because we are playing for the same position.

"I have been in other places that maybe another striker doesn't want me to score for him to play, but here it's different. I think every moment that I score, that he scores, we are happy.

"It's a 10-year age difference, but I try to help him in what I can. I try to be like a big brother to him to show the good things."

And their sibling-like love was on view in the car park afterwards as the pair joked around upon Muniz's arrival. The Fulham training ground is just a feel-good place right now.

The west Londoners sit eighth and are four points off the top four. Silva's side are on a four-game unbeaten run, including draws against title challengers Liverpool and Arsenal.

Jimenez feels they are "aiming for big things" and describes this Premier League season as "crazy", with only six points separating fourth-placed Nottingham Forest and 13th-placed Manchester United.

But where Fulham have struggled so far is against teams at the other end of the table. Their last defeat came against second-bottom Wolves, while they drew at strugglers Ipswich and Everton.

Sunday's home game against managerless bottom-club Southampton, live on , feels must-win if Fulham want to be serious contenders for a European place.

"It's going to be difficult because they sacked the manager [Russell Martin]," Jimenez says. "Sometimes that plays with them. They get more focused on the game as well, so we need to be prepared.

"They're at the very bottom but that doesn't change anything. Our mind needs to be: we're at home, we need to win this game and to keep climbing the table.

"All the last games we were doing great things, but it won't be good if you don't win this game at home against one of the bottom teams. So those are maybe the most important games when you think you're going to get the point, but you need to play the game first to get them and be sure that you can fight for higher things."

For Jimenez, there is an added incentive to benefit his relegation-threatened former club Wolves, where he scored 57 goals in 166 games during five seasons.

Asked whether he is thinking of helping the Old Gold with a win over Saints, he replies: "Yeah, of course. I'm always going to be supporting Wolves because it's a club that gave me a lot of things.

"I don't want them to get relegated of course, but also if we can help them in these kinds of things.

"But if we face them again now in Wolverhampton for sure I want to win, but in this case I want to help them."

Jimenez eyeing Premier League record

This weekend's match against Southampton could be a landmark one for Jimenez.

If he scores twice he will become the leading Mexican goalscorer in the Premier League overtaking Javier Hernandez's 53 goals for Manchester United and West Ham.

"All the social media is with that every time that I score, so I'm aware of it," he reveals. "It will be an honour. I hope before the year is finished, I get that record for myself and I want to keep scoring to make it bigger."

So could Sunday be the day he breaks the record?

"Why not?" he says. "I want to aim for that. I want to be targeting, but we never know.

"We go with calm - maybe I don't score or maybe I make a hat-trick! It can happen. But I'm really happy that I can make that come to me."

He adds: "Maybe if that [the head injury] didn't happen in that moment, maybe I would have broken the record years ago. But things happen for a thing and I have the opportunity for it, and I'm really happy for that.

"I'm going to be aiming for this. I still have three games this year and, well, I hope before that I'll make it."

Whether he reaches the milestone on Sunday or sometime next year, it will mark another extraordinary chapter in Jimenez's remarkable return from his skull fracture.

Watch Fulham vs Southampton live on Premier League on Sunday; kick-off 2pm.