This summer we are running a series profiling 50 exciting players under the age of 25 — who they are, how they play, and why they could be attracting interest in the coming transfer windows.
So far, we have run the rule over a striker on Manchester United’s radar, Gen-Z’s answer toSergio Busquetsand theFranceforward who has gone from zero to €100million in the space of a year.You can find all our profiles until now here.
Next up is a young Dutch midfielder with a remarkable career arc…
Xavi Simons’ career was at a crossroads this time last year.
Aged 19, Simons had played only 331 minutes of professional football across 11 appearances. He was still waiting for his first senior goal and had one assist to his name.
The only numbers that caught the eye were off the field, on social media, where Simons had accumulated 4.2 million Instagram followers — a legacy of being a child prodigy and signing for two of the biggest clubs in the world.
Simons joined Barcelona’s La Masia academy at seven years old and was appearing in Nike commercials alongside Neymar and Ronaldinho when most kids his age were trying to find their pencil case.
Simons, aged eight, at La Masia (Photo: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
He moved to Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 16, and Real Madrid inquired about signing him last summer. In fact, just about every top club in Europe has looked at Simons at one time or another.
The talent was never in doubt, going right back to the days when he first started kicking a ball with boys three times his age in the small town of Rojales, in Alicante in Spain, where his family relocated from the Netherlands after his father Regillio’s career as a professional footballer came to an end.
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But the big question in the past was always whether Simons, with those distinctive blond curls and lightweight frame (that’s changed a bit now), would be able to turn all the potential and hype into something of substance. In short: was he going to be a top player or just an internet sensation?
The answer was delivered last season — and in style. Simons didn’t so much break through at PSV Eindhoven as smash a hole in the ceiling. He started every Eredivisie match for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s team, scored 22 goals in all competitions and assisted another 12.
On top of that, Simons made his Netherlands debut at the World Cup, led PSV to second place in the Eredivisie (some would argue that should say “carried”), and finished the season as the joint-top goalscorer in the league and with his name on the wishlist of some of the biggest clubs in Europe — again.
A scout working for one of those top European clubs, talking to The Athletic on condition of anonymity for obvious reasons, says Simons deserves a lot of credit for walking away from PSG last summer and signing for PSV. “It was the right decision at the right time, and it was also the right league and the right club,” he explains. “A perfect move.”
(Photo: Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
The big question now — “the multi-million dollar question”, as Marco Timmer, Voetbal International’s PSV correspondent, puts it — is whether Simons decides to move again this summer or spend another season in Eindhoven.
Leading clubs in England and Germany are understood to have shown interest in Simons, and it is easy to see why. Aged 20, Simons has pace to burn, he is a brilliant dribbler, plays with flair and imagination, and scores goals freely as a No 10 or as a wide attacker.
Interestingly, PSG have a buy-back clause that gives them the opportunity to re-sign Simons for a set fee, believed to be as low as €6million (£5.2m; $6.6m), during the month of July.
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Crucially, though, Simons has the final say on whether that clause is activated.
“It is a clause between me and PSV. Not between me and Paris Saint-Germain,” Simons explained earlier this month. “It’s a clause that, if I wanted to go to PSG, I could leave for a certain amount at the end of the season.
“To be honest, it’s not in my head to leave. I’m settled here; I feel good here. You can also see that on the field, I think. I came here on a free transfer, so I have no obligations to anyone. I’m the one who has to make the choice.”
(Photo: Photo Prestige/Soccrates/Getty Images)
So, aside from the fact that he was named after Xavi Hernandez (Faustino, his older brother, was named after Faustino Asprilla in case you were wondering) and that he was already joining in under-19 rondos in Spain at the age of six, what makes Simons so special?
“He’s really hungry,” Fred Rutten, Van Nistelrooy’s assistant at PSV last season, tells The Athletic. “He wants to be the best. I remember in the past, big players like Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) and (Cristiano) Ronaldo, what they said at the age of 18-20; they wanted to be the best. That was in their heads. And that’s also in the head of the boy.”
Rutten, who previously managed PSV, Feyenoord and Vitesse Arnhem, puffs out his cheeks when he thinks about Simons’ ability. “I saw all his training sessions, and when I sat with him to watch some clips, the only level at that moment was to watch like it was the Champions League or the national team.”
There is a lot to enjoy about watching Simons play football, as Arsenal supporters might recall rather ruefully from their Europa League group game away against PSV last season. Simons was outstanding in a 2-0 victory.
If ever a passage of play captures what Simons is all about, it is the moment in the 66th minute when he picks up possession on the edge of his own penalty area, after Granit Xhaka has given away the ball, turns on the afterburners and runs directly at the Arsenal defence.
So dangerous on the transition, Simons turns defence into attack in a matter of seconds.
Driving into the centre of the pitch, he carries the ball more than 60 yards…
… and even manages to navigate a way out of a dead-end after four Arsenal players, shown in the image below, converge on him.
Simons checks, turns out and finds Ibrahim Sangare, whose right-wing cross is…
… converted by Cody Gakpo, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
By that stage in the game, Simons was running the show. He already had a brilliant solo goal of his own disallowed for offside and had shown some delightful touches, such as this exquisite eye-of-the-needle pass to release Gakpo in behind the Arsenal defence.
Simons, circled, turns inside Kieran Tierney…
… and then flicks the ball, nonchalantly, with the outside of his right foot, taking four Arsenal players out of the game.
The technique was perfect and Gakpo should have scored…
It was also familiar to anyone who has watched Simons play since he turned up at La Masia…
(Photo: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
That night against Arsenal felt like a microcosm of Simons’ season.
The best player on the pitch by a distance, Simons showed why Van Nistelrooy described him as a footballer who is “way beyond his age”.
His smarterscout data, which shows how a player performs a specific action and how that compares to their positional peers by giving them a rating from zero to 99, highlights two particularly striking strengths in his offensive play.
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First, his carry and dribble volume (as demonstrated in that first Arsenal clip), is rated 89 out of 99 (when playing wide on the left, which is where he featured most).
The second category that makes you sit up and take notice is his xG from shot creation, which shows how much a player’s actions (taking shots, making the pass before the chance, creating opportunities; think of that ball to Gakpo) contribute to creating chances for their team. Simons has a rating of 97 out of 99 for this metric.
The more you see Simons, the more you appreciate how much he also plays football with his brain.
Rutten nods. “He’s only 20 but he can already read games. Not many players can do that at that age; they only think about themselves.”
That game intelligence manifests itself in Simons’ movement. A dynamic runner, he is quick to recognise what is developing and how to capitalise — a bit like a snooker player thinking two shots ahead.
In the clip below against Utrecht, Joey Veerman has the ball with his back to goal while Simons floats on the right.
But look what happens (below) as soon as Veerman turns inside — it’s like a trigger for Simons. He is not just on the move but sprinting into the inside right channel to receive…
As his PSV team-mate Guus Til spins outward and takes a defender with him, Simons drives into the space that has opened up, imploring Veerman to play him in on goal.
With the ball at his feet, Simons cuts across the Utrecht defence…
… and with the outside of his right foot steers a precise shot into the corner.
It is a great example of why the player making the run dictates the pass and not the other way around.
And that desire to make things happen in attack is evident in the third-man run that Simons makes against AZ Alkmaar below.
In fact, this goal feels like a classic Harry Kane-Son Heung-min move at Tottenham. As the ball is played into the feet of Luuk de Jong, Simons, circled below, is already breaking at pace, sprinting into space long before the pass has arrived and reading the movement pattern that is unfolding.
De Jong expertly flicks the ball around the corner, into the path of Simons, and now AZ are carved wide open.
Simons is away and, as with before, does the smart thing by running across the line of his nearest opponent.
He ends up getting brought down from behind as a result but still manages to turn the ball beyond goalkeeper Mat Ryan.
“Little Xavi just wants to play.”
Timmer can still remember Simons giving him that response last summer when he interviewed the teenager (as he was then), asking him about all the attention and pressure that he had dealt with from a young age.
There was curiosity about Simons in the Netherlands at that time — in particular because of his social-media profile — but it didn’t take long for people to realise that, to use Timmer’s expression, he was “as good as the brochure says”.
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On his PSV debut, in the Johan Cruyff Shield against Ajax in July, Simons came off the bench to score in a 5-3 victory. It was a lovely goal, too, and is worth revisiting because of his clever movement and cool finishing.
The build-up starts with Simons picking up the ball wide on the left.
He then glides along the edge of the penalty area and recognises an opportunity for a one-two. The second Simons releases a square ball to Veerman, he is already sprinting diagonally in behind for the return, as you can see in the image below…
A diagonal run and a straight pass is often a winning combination.
Simons finds himself one-on-one…
… drops his shoulder, steers the ball around the Ajax goalkeeper Jay Gorter…
… and slots into the empty net for his first PSV goal.
That proved to be a sign of things to come, both in terms of the threat Simons would carry for PSV that season but also his calmness in front of goal.
Rutten smiles when the subject of Simons’ composed finishing is brought up.
“He has something that not a lot of players have; they get nervous when they come into the box. He (Simons) never gets nervous, and he knows exactly what he’s going to do. He’s not the type of player that needs many chances to score goals. At that age, 20-plus goals in his first year, I say, ‘Chapeau.’”
There were goals of every description too.
Against Groningen, in the clip below, Simons receives a pass between the lines with his back to goal and…
… aware that the closest defender is on his outside, lifts his left leg and flicks the ball inside with his right.
That little shift creates room for him to arrow a shot…
… into the far top corner.
Against AZ — in the game mentioned above — Simons’ second goal, scored deep into added-time, was a superb individual effort that saw him run almost half the length of the pitch.
His directness seems to take defenders by surprise at times.
Simons bursts through a posse of AZ players…
… and then drifts around Ryan…
… in a similar fashion to his goal against Ajax.
On other occasions last season, Simons finished with finesse, such as at the end of this two-v-one attacking overload against FC Volendam…
… when he elegantly lifts the ball over the goalkeeper.
What is clear is that it is fatal for opponents to leave space in behind for Simons. In the next clip, he sprints clear against Vitesse.
And still has plenty to do in the picture below…
… but he has the ability, as he showed when that quartet of Arsenal players were pursuing him, to apply the brakes and dart back inside.
With the defender wrong-footed, Simons disguises his intentions with the goalkeeper too…
… and drills inside the near post.
Simons isn’t short of self-belief — in a good way. It comes across in the manner of his play rather than how he behaves, and that faith in his own ability is born from hours and hours of practice.
When Timmer visited Rojales last year to see where Simons grew up, he was told stories about how “little Xavi” still returns every summer, picks up a bag of footballs from Club Deportivo Thader — the amateur team where his journey started — heads over to some playing fields next to La Finca golf resort and works on his technique.
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It is an anecdote that brings to mind something that Van Nistelrooy mentioned last season. “His mentality, his mindset — it’s unprecedented,” the former Manchester United player said about Simons.
All of this helps to explain why Simons is able to play with such freedom and confidence.
This backheel against Sparta Rotterdam is typical of the way he improvises at times.
Erick Gutierrez, galloping down the left, should score but drags his shot wide.
Another backheel, after some lovely interplay with Fabio Silva, who slides a pass inside to Simons (circled below)…
… bamboozles the Cambuur defence…
… and gives Anwar El Ghazi the time and space to shoot because the opposition players kept running forward, anticipating that Simons would take the ball with him.
El Ghazi curls home and Simons has another assist to his name.
How many players would even think about volleying this ball — first time, no less — against Go Ahead Eagles, which is dropping out of the sky after being headed clear from a corner?
Simons doesn’t hesitate. His technique is outstanding as he runs around the ball, never taking his eye off it, to strike a volley that…
… hits the crossbar.
The ball is hit so sweetly and with so much power that players from both teams look stunned as it flies off the top of the goal frame…
… and rebounds all the way outside the penalty area without touching the floor, leaving Simons holding his head in his hands in disbelief.
One surface that Simons loves using when he strikes the ball — and this is probably apparent by now — is the outside of his right boot.
Able to generate accuracy and power while on the run…
… he bends this ball beautifully into the path of Silva against Excelsior.
The Portuguese striker stoops to head home…
… and is quick to acknowledge the creator.
That left channel is generally where Simons has the most joy. It enables him to play as an out-to-in wide attacker, almost roaming at times.
“At this age, he’s not a real specialist,” adds Rutten, when asked about Simons’ best position. “In the future, I think he can play at No 10, but he’s more of a No 10 who scores goals. He has the skills when he’s in the box and when he can come out quickly in the counter-attack — then he’s really dangerous.”
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Last season, the majority of Simons’ minutes in the Eredivisie were spent as either a wide left attacker or in the No 10 role.
The fact that Simons can play in so many attacking positions only adds to his appeal. In fact, those who have worked closely with him believe that he is such an intelligent footballer that he would even be comfortable as a deep-lying playmaker.
For now, Simons’ immediate future is far more important than establishing the position that gets the most out of him on the pitch.
PSV, by the sound of things, will do everything in their power to keep Simons at the club for another season, including offering him an improved contract.
As for Simons, there is a clear sense that his own development will be the priority for him rather than money. But his ambition to get to the very top shouldn’t be underestimated.
“I don’t have any idea what is going to happen next season with him,” Rutten says. “I know the boy very well. It has to be also a real challenge (for him). If the challenge is not there… he needs that for his development. He wants to play in the Champions League.
“If you saw the home game against Arsenal (in the Europa League), he was very good. So, he has an opportunity to play at the highest level.”
(Photo: Getty Images/Design: Sam Richardson)
