There may have been a few in the home end looking towards the sky during Xavi Simons’ on-pitch unveiling, waiting for a former hard-nosed Italian banker to swoop down from a helicopter, snatch the Dutchman and fly him down Seven Sisters Road.
Insecurity had been rife among Tottenham Hotspur’s fan base following not only a summer of rejections and hijackings, but years of transfer heartbreak. Before Morgan Gibbs-White and Eberechi Eze, there was João Moutinho and the paperwork error, Paulo Dybala’s image rights, as well as the ever-elusive Leandro Damião.
Spurs, off the back of their glorious night in Bilbao, had doubtlessly shown ambition in the market ahead of Thomas Frank’s first season at the helm. After completing their first piece of business with West Ham United in almost 15 years for the services of Mohammed Kudus, the club sought to swiftly wrap up a deal for Forest skipper Gibbs-White.
There was a sense that the off-field behemoth was finally starting to operate like a big boy on the football side of things, but it didn’t take long for that hope to seep away. Evangelos Marinakis head-locked his skipper into remaining at the City Ground, while the alternative, Eze, looked for all money to be donning Lilywhite until the enemy, led by new sporting director Andrea Berta, silently worked to scupper Spurs’ deal.
Spurs’ History of Being Gazumped by Rivals
Arsenal’s move for Eze under Daniel Levy’s nose, following days of tiresome negotiations with Steve Parish, sparked outright fury among supporters. Once again, it was perceived that Levy’s penny-pinching had undermined Frank’s desperation to acquire a No. 10. With James Maddison succumbing to an ACL tear in Seoul and Dejan Kulusevski reportedly out until the new year, the new manager had a distinct creative void to fill.
This lack of urgency drifted into panic as an audacious move for Como’s Nico Paz never got off the ground. With the deadline looming, Frank, having started his tenure so brightly, looked poised to be another Tottenham manager set up to fail.
And when the Xavi Simons links emerged, many people laughed. Some questioned whether Levy had suddenly grown numb to humiliation. Chelsea were there all summer, with the Dutch star supposedly turning down other enticing proposals in the hope that the Blues would eventually make their final push. However, as we’re slowly starting to learn, you shouldn’t believe everything you read on Fabrizio Romano‘s timeline.
Chelsea have not only dominated the head-to-head tussle with their London rivals on the pitch in modern times, but they’ve sought to flex their superiority in the market as well. Eden Hazard admitted he was attracted by Spurs’ proposal in early 2012, but the Blues’ unfathomable Champions League triumph convinced the Belgian to instead move to Stamford Bridge. The following summer, Anzhi Makhachkala winger Willian spent hours completing a medical at Hotspur Way, only to be sweet-talked into switching N17 for SW6 by José Mourinho.
The five-time Premier League champions have so often operated with the unabashed ruthlessness that Spurs have perpetually been bereft of. The previous regime overseen by Roman Abramovich would never have let a talent of Simons’ standing join little ol’ Tottenham Hotspur, but BlueCo, who collect and trade players like they’re Merlin football stickers, were all too willing.
Despite missing out on Premier League-proven commodities, there’s a sense that Tottenham have somehow fallen upwards by landing Simons in a £51.8 million ($70 million) deal.
We’re not talking about a 22-year-old kid who’s just burst onto the scene, but a talent who was thrust into mainstream consciousness before his teenage years. Simons had a million Instagram followers and a Nike deal by the time he was 14, with the "boy with golden curls" developing great notoriety during his formative years at La Masia.
His senior career path has been laden with astute decisions designed to expose him to an array of environments. Simons’ capacity to speak six languages has so far proven handy, with the maverick playmaker enjoying spells at Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig in between a hugely successful loan in his homeland with PSV Eindhoven.
Simons Impact Evident by His Numbers
Simons has recorded 63 goal contributions over the past three seasons and will be expected to deliver almost immediately in north London. Frank’s Spurs desperately require the Dutchman’s invention and off-the-cuff magic that transcends systemisation. Simons is no supreme athlete, but he’s a dominant performer in transition, a smooth operator in tight spaces due to his low centre of gravity, and Frank has already spoken about his capacity to "unlock defences". The manager will appreciate his robustness out of possession, too.
He’ll help diversify an attack that has so far appeared reliant on Pape Matar Sarr’s pressing and Kudus’s masterful ball retention. With Brennan Johnson often treating the ball like it’s burning his feet, teams, like Bournemouth last time out in the Premier League, would’ve believed that shutting Kudus down would go a long way to stifling the Lilywhites. Simons, in his chinos and suede loafers, likely would’ve offered more than Johnson down the left after his unveiling.
Andoni Iraola, the mastermind behind Spurs’ most recent defeat, can enhance the value of individuals by ensuring they coalesce effectively to form an outstanding collective, and Frank was able to do the same at Brentford. The Dane drew blood from so many stones at the Gtech, but he’s got an array of jewels to work with in north London. Simons, despite Kudus’ excellent start, may well be Tottenham’s diamond, and the 22-year-old believes Frank is the “right coach” to take his game, one which can be defined by moments of magic as opposed to sustained brilliance, to the next level.
Welcome to your new home, Xavi Simons 🤍 pic.twitter.com/AQGQYk3qsL
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 30, 2025
After Simons walked back down the tunnel following an electric reception at his new home, crucially without Berta emerging like a Bond villain from the air, the scale of the deal may have finally sunk in for Spurs supporters. This is the sort of talent that usually doesn’t wind up in Tottenham’s hands: so established, so prominent, so marketable. Simons is a ready-made face of the franchise in a post-Harry Kane and Son world, and the most exciting new arrival perhaps since Rafael van der Vaart rocked up from Real Madrid late in the 2010 summer window.
Many won’t want to admit their palpable enthusiasm for Tanguy Ndombélé in 2019.
Spurs have typically opted to carve out their own stars through the market, so Simons’ addition represents a potential shift in approach. It was the summer of humiliating ambition after all, and the departure of Levy has opened up a cornucopia of possibilities.
The ENIC Group have asserted their desire to remain a part of Tottenham Hotspur for generations, with the signs out of N17 pointing towards greater internal investment rather than a lucrative takeover. That night in Bilbao supplied a taste of what’s escaped the Lewis family for 17 years, and Simons has the potential to function as one of the key instruments towards achieving their loftier goals.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Xavi Simons: Tottenham’s Franchise Player Who Can Realise Newfound Ambition.