Who is Xavi Simons? The ex-Barcelona & PSG wonderkid starring at PSV

18 Oct 2022 11:35 BST
4 min read

Xavi Simons is a name well-known for a while, and it’s not a surprise considering his previous clubs include Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.

The 19-year-old is now at Dutch giants PSV and has been thriving for them having struggled to get game time while at the French side after joining them in 2019.

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At PSV, Simons is thriving, and has made a fine start to life there having moved to the Eredivisie club in the summer, with calls for him to be taken to the World Cup with the Netherlands.

He’s an exceptional talent and he’s finally showing his best form, but what else do we know about Simons?

What position does Simons play in?

For PSV, Simons plays as an attacking midfielder or centre-forward, but in the past, he has shown capabilities of dropping deeper in midfield or even occasionally on the wing.

How good is Simons?

Simons was highly-rated at both PSG and Barcelona, but at PSV, he’s been given the time and patience to show it, and he’s thriving with some fine players around him.

Forming a creative triumvirate with Cody Gakpo and Joey Veerman, Simons has only gotten better, and while there were high hopes for Simons’ career, there were few suggestions he’d be this good this quickly.

At PSV, Simons has proven to be a huge goal threat as his intelligent movement and the ability to get into good attacking areas has been well-understood by his team-mates, contributing to his fine start to the season.

8 - Xavi Simons (19 years and 178 days) has scored eight goals in his first ten Eredivisie games, the only younger player with at least eight goals in his first ten Eredivisie games for @PSV is Willy van der Kuijlen (17 years, 338 days). Legend. pic.twitter.com/oUL89prRmV
— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) October 16, 2022

Additionally, it helps massively that he’s great on the ball, as evident by his ability to drive forward with it, averaging 3.41 progressive carries per 90 in the Eredivisie this season.

Simons has had a hand in 14 goals across all competitions this season (10 goals and four assists), which is more than any player under the age of 21 across Europe’s top six leagues this season.

He’s also the only teenager to be involved in over 10 goals in Europe’s top seven leagues this season, showing how important he is to Ruud van Nistelrooy’s team.

🔟⚽️ for @xavisimons this season 🔥#PSVUTR
— PSV (@PSV) October 17, 2022

To put that into context, Simons has already had a hand in more goals this season than Antony did last season for Ajax, and he earned the summer’s biggest transfer to Manchester United.

There are strong calls for Louis van Gaal to take Simons to the World Cup in Qatar this winter, and judging by how the player has started the campaign, those calls are justified.

What clubs are interested in Simons?

Simons recently admitted his desire to stay at PSV, when he was asked about the possibility of a return to PSG: “There’s a clause in my contract: if I want to go to PSG at the end of the season, I can do that for a certain amount.”

The youngster continued: “To be honest, it’s not in my head to leave PSV. I feel good here and I’ve just settled in. I think you can see that on the field.”

In the past, clubs such as Real Madrid were taking him on following his departure from PSG, and the way he is going, interest in him will increase in the coming months.