Raúl Jiménez's brace against Ipswich Town over the weekend not only salvaged a point for Fulham, it also put him ahead of Javier "Chicharito" Hernández for the most goals by a Mexican player in Premier League history.
With his brace, the Club América academy product reached 55 goals in England's top flight, surpassing the 53 Chicharito scored during his time with Manchester United and West Ham United.
Two second half penalties—Jiménez's specialty—perfectly dispatched by the 33-year-old striker were enough to put him ahead of Chicharito. It took Jiménez 179 games between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham to reach this benchmark, whereas it took Chicharito 158 to reach his 53 goals.
̶J̶a̶v̶i̶e̶r̶ ̶H̶e̶r̶n̶á̶n̶d̶e̶z̶ ̶ Raúl Jiménez. 🇲🇽
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) January 5, 2025
Now the highest scoring Mexican in @premierleague history. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tiiNhjWO11
The European career of the Mexico international appeared to be in jeopardy after failing to score a single goal during the 2022-23 season. Following a life-threatening injury in 2020, Jiménez struggled to return to form which led Wolves to part ways with him when Fulham offered £5 million ($6.2m) for his services in the summer of 2023.
During his first season at Craven Cottage, Jiménez struggled to impress, with uncertainty regarding his future, things turned around this season. "El Lobo de Tepeji" has eight Premier League goals in 20 appearances this term and his performances earned him a return to the Mexican national team, where he looks to have established himself as the starting center forward in Javier Aguirre's side with only 18 months to go until the FIFA World Cup.
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It might be a long time before we see Jiménez's record get close to being broken. Him and Chicharito in second are a long way ahead from Guillermo Franco and Carlos Vela tied for third with five goals each. Jared Borgetti scored twice for Bolton Wanderers and Miguel Layún and Edson Álvarez are the remaining Mexican players to have scored in the Premier League.
Fulham manager, Marco Silva, praised Jiménez after the match and commented on the possibility of the team picking up the Mexican's contract option for next year, saying "When the moment is right, we are going to speak with him to decide. I don't think Raúl needs to be concerned about it."
Jiménez and Fulham will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 9, when they host Watford in an FA Cup round three clash.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mexico's Raul Jimenez Makes Premier League History Surpassing Manchester United Striker.
