Santiago Gimenez’s time on the pitch for 2024 is sadly over.
The Mexico forward suffered a thigh injury in Feyenoord’s match with NAC Breda on Sunday, and the club announced this week he will miss three months because of the injury.
It’s bad news for the Dutch club, which relied on Gimenez up top in its opening seven matches. It’s bad news for Mexico, which has high hopes for the 23-year-old and believes he can be the country’s next star. And it’s bad news for Gimenez, who now must work to get back on the field and find the same rhythm he’s shown since moving to the Netherlands.
The good news? It’s nothing Gimenez hasn’t overcome before.
As a 17-year-old in the Cruz Azul academy, Gimenez suffered a health issue that he thought would force him to find a new career, giving up the sport he loves. Being a soccer player was the only thing Gimenez had ever dreamed of. The sport was a part of his family’s DNA.
His father, Argentina native Christian “Chaco” Giménez, played as a midfielder for Boca Juniors before moving to Mexico and suiting up for many seasons with Pachuca and Cruz Azul. His form earned several Mexico national team caps after becoming a naturalized citizen.
So news of a complicated thrombosis in his shoulder that could’ve required a lifelong dependence on anticoagulants was tough for Santi to swallow.
“I remember this day the doctor told me, ‘You won’t be able to play football anymore.’ My dad and I went to a room, obviously both of us crying, I asked him ‘Why did this happen to me?’” Santi Gimenez told CalienteTV this year. “I felt I was a good kid, I helped people. I asked, ‘Why is this happening to me if I’m not a bad person?’ My dad said, ‘I don’t know. I honestly don’t have the answer, but there’s someone who has it. That’s God.’”
After three operations and six months away from the soccer field, Gimenez was cleared to return. He quickly began building toward his 2017 professional debut, becoming a regular first-teamer with Cruz Azul in the 2019 Apertura. After making an impression in Liga MX, where he scored 20 goals in 88 appearances, he would earn a move abroad to Feyenoord three years later.
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