Xavi Simons’ first season at Tottenham Hotspur has been defined more by the club’s chaos than by his own ability, and with relegation still a real possibility, serious questions are mounting over whether the £55m signing will still be at Hotspur Way come August.
Simons was supposed to be one of the marquee signings of last summer.
Spurs hijacked his move to Chelsea at the eleventh hour, paying RB Leipzig €65m to bring the Netherlands international to north London on a five-year deal.
The expectation was that he would become the creative heartbeat of the team. Instead, he has managed just nine goal contributions across 36 appearances in all competitions, drifted in and out of three different managers’ starting line-ups and found himself publicly questioned by former Spurs man Rafael van der Vaart, who claimed he had done “nothing at all” in north London.
Why Xavi Simons has struggled at Tottenham
Simons joined a club that had already begun to unravel under Thomas Frank, then endured Igor Tudor’s calamitous six-week reign, and is now attempting a rescue mission under Roberto De Zerbi with seven games of the season remaining.
That is not a stable environment for any player to build form and confidence, let alone a 22-year-old making his first attempt at Premier League football.
The physicality of the division has exposed him at times, with opponents quickly identifying that pressing him aggressively and denying him space to carry the ball causes significant problems. He has also been used inconsistently across different roles and systems, never really allowed to settle into the number #10 position where he is demonstrably at his best.
When he has been given that clarity of role, glimpses of his quality have broken through.
He scored twice against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and was named UEFA’s man of the match, which serves as a useful reminder of the player Tottenham thought they were signing. The European stage, where the game is more open and the pressing less suffocating, has suited him far better than the Premier League grind.
What happens to Xavi Simons if Tottenham are relegated?
That is the question dominating his situation right now.
Journalist Nicolo Schira reported in March that Simons could leave in the summer transfer window, and the relegation dimension makes that almost certain if it comes to pass.
Barcelona are understood to have been identified as a preferred destination, with reports suggesting they view a fee of around £40m as acceptable for a player they still have strong ties to from his nine years in their academy. Chelsea, who came so close to signing him last summer, remain interested and could revive their pursuit if the opportunity arises. Galatasaray have also been credited with preparing to make first contact, drawn by the prospect of offering him Champions League football.
Tottenham surviving in the Premier League changes the equation considerably.
Under De Zerbi, who specifically builds systems around technically gifted, possession-oriented number 10s, Simons’ profile is actually well suited to what the new manager wants. His arrival could represent the reset Simons has needed all season. Whether he gets that opportunity depends entirely on what happens in the final seven games.
