Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Raul Jimenez ‘must be doing everything right in training’ in order to keep being selected, according to journalist Dean Jones.

The 30-year-old has struggled to hit his previous heights in the current campaign but has remained one of the first names on the team sheet for manager Bruno Lage.

What is the latest news involving Jimenez?

Jimenez first arrived on English shores back in July 2018 on an initial loan deal from Benfica and made an instant impression at Molineux, bagging 17 goals and providing a further eight assists in 44 appearances.

His impressive exploits prompted Wolves to splash out a then club-record £30 million fee to secure his services on a permanent basis, and the 91-cap Mexico international immediately set about repaying the faith shown in him.

Throughout 2019/20, Jimenez registered a whopping 37 goal contributions in 55 outings across all competitions, firing the Midlands outfit to a seventh-placed finish and the Europa League quarter-finals.

However, a freak injury saw the 6 foot 3 ace fracture his skull against Arsenal in November 2020, ruling him out of the remainder of the campaign.

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And since then, Jimenez has struggled to regain his best form, scoring just six goals and laying on only four assists in his 29 appearances this term.

Yet he remains Wolves’ first-choice forward and has started 24 of their 29 Premier League games this term, with backup Fabio Silva still to find the back of the net in 2021/22.

What has Jones said about Jimenez?

Lage’s charges appeared set to challenge for a Champions League spot until three consecutive defeats at the end of February and start of March put an end to those dreams.

But Wolves have struggled in front of goal all season. Their tally of 29 strikes is comfortably the lowest in the top-half of the table, and Jones believes star striker Jimenez must be ‘showing all the right attributes’ in training to keep his place in the side.

He told GiveMeSport: “He must be doing everything right in training. He must be showing all the right attributes and showing that he's still the same player that he was.”

How poor has Jimenez been?

Getting back to his best after such a horrendous injury was always going to take time, but Jimenez’s underlying numbers aren’t especially encouraging.

As per FBref, the technically gifted talent has ranked in the 16^th percentile for non-penalty expected goals, the 25^th for total shots, 27^th for expected assists and 41^st for touches in the attacking penalty area amongst players in his position over the last year.

Therefore, Wolves and Lage will surely want to see an improvement from Jimenez in the final months of the campaign as they continue their European push.