The most romantic signing of the summer belongs to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Raul Jimenez, the Mexican striker who defined an era at Molineux, has come home — and the club has not been the same since.

Jimenez, now 35, rejoins Wolves for their first season in the Championship following relegation from the Premier League. His arrival did not merely lift spirits; it transformed the atmosphere entirely. Every one of the club's ten most engaged social media posts since the announcement has been about him, and Wolves say the Instagram response is the highest anyone at the club can remember.

A shirt number that means everything

Out on the streets, it is not Wolves shirts fans are wearing — it is Jimenez shirts. At a pre-season friendly against Real Sociedad, supporters chanted his name even before he set foot on the pitch, with Mexico kits — home and away — scattered throughout the stands.

Inside the club shop, his jersey is outselling last season's most popular player by more than 250 percent. To find a parallel, you would need to look back to Steve Bull — a player so beloved he transcended the club itself.

Goals, glory, and European nights

The numbers alone justify the affection. Jimenez's 40 Premier League goals make him Wolves' all-time top scorer in the competition, and his 57 in all competitions include a remarkable collection of European memories. He is the club's record scorer in European competition, finding the net against Crusaders, Pyunik Yerevan, Torino, Slovan Bratislava, and in the torrential rain in Braga — nights that supporters still sing about today.

He scored in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. He helped fire Wolves into the top seven in consecutive Premier League seasons for the first time since the Stan Cullis era. In 2019/20, his 27 league goals were bettered by a Wolves player only once before — by Bull, in the third tier, in 1989. To find a comparable tally in the top flight, you must go back to John Richards in 1973.

The injury that deepened the bond

Then came the collision with David Luiz at Arsenal in November 2020 — a fractured skull, a stadium silenced, and a recovery road that was long and gruelling. Jimenez never fully recaptured his pre-injury brilliance in a Wolves shirt, and he has not scored a headed goal for the club since. That moment, when it comes, promises to be one of the great Molineux catharses.

Yet if the injury complicated his football, it only deepened his connection with supporters. His family's openness about the support they received from Wolves fans during the recovery brought the two sides closer than ever. His wife Daniela has embraced the city, and the couple even held the gender reveal of their second child on the Molineux pitch itself.

An ending rewritten

His first departure, in May 2023, was bittersweet at best — reduced to an unused substitute against Everton, tearful on the sidelines, saying goodbyes that never felt final. Now, under new head coach Cesar Peixoto, he has the chance to write the ending his Wolves career deserves.

The bookmakers have installed him as the Championship's favourite for top scorer — hardly a stretch for a striker who converted every Premier League penalty he ever took, amassing more spot-kick goals than any other player in the competition's history. If he stays fit, 20 goals is a realistic target.

Whether Wolves can build a squad capable of winning promotion around him remains an open question. But in some ways, that is beside the point. Steve Bull spent a decade in the second tier without achieving promotion and only burnished his legend in the process.

Bull stayed. Jimenez has returned. Wolves have their No 9 back.