Tottenham Hotspur are just itching to get star man Xavi Simons back. Spurs signed him in the summer 2025 transfer window to be one of the next centerpieces of the team alongside fellow new addition Mohammed Kudus, and while Kudus immediately hit the ground running before a season ending hamstring injury, Simons took longer to get involved, mostly because Thomas Frank was such an incompetent coach he had no idea what to do with a central playmaker.
But after finally playing in position under a much better manager in Roberto De Zerbi, Simons immediately clicked and was on the same wavelength as De Zerbi, with whom he seemed to share a footballing brain. Unfortunately, Simons's season was also cut short by an even worse injury, and he has been out since with a torn ACL.
For the most part, SImons has been expected to return later on in the season in the winter around January or February, but it already sounds increasingly like the Dutch international could be the latest player to return to Spurs ahead of schedule, which means even more since the other main No. 10 in the squad, James Maddison, can barely stay healthy himself.
According to a new injury update from ESPN, via Last Word on Spurs, Xavi Simons continues to trend further ahead in his recovery, and the young man may be trending even faster than anticipated. Per ESPN, Simons is about to enter phase three of his recovery later in the month of November, which means he should be able to return to training with the Tottenham Hotspur first team.
That is massive, and after Dejan Kulusevski's return from injury last month, Spurs could be headed to having an even more important playmaker back at a time when Spurs could really use his invention, spark, creativity, and supplementary goal scoring, especially with Maddison continuing to be in and out of the lineup.
Luca Williams-Barnett is an intriguing Simons alternative, of course, but Simons is the one ready here and now, and everyone saw what he can do under Roberto De Zerbi with that little glorious taste of his stardom during the couple of weeks when he and the Italian manager were able to overlap.
Tottenham have to be careful not to rush Simons, since they want him to be in it for the long haul. But if Simons can start getting minutes before the new year begins, that would be insanely great news for Simons and the club. He is well on track.