Towards the end of August, Tottenham Hotspur signed Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig for around €60m. Prior to his move to the Premier League side, Chelsea and Bayern Munich had also looked at him.
The attacking midfielder managed 11 goals and eight assists from 33 matches for Leipzig last season.
Chelsea and Bayern Munich showed keen interest before Tottenham won the battle in the end.
Last October, Sport Witness covered claims from Germany the German club’s financial situation stopped them from signing the 22-year-old.
Two months later, we relayed news that Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl had serious clashes with other officials internally over Simons. He was keen on signing the Netherlands international.
Kompany pushed for Tottenham player
Fast forward to April and Bayern Munich honorary president and board member, Uli Hoeneß, now talks about Xavi Simons.
He appeared as a guest on podcast Auf eine weiß-blaue Tasse with Bavarian minister Markus Söder. Sport1 have relayed his comments on the Tottenham Hotspur player.
Hoeneß reveals Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany made a specific request to sign the Dutchman.
“I still remember a conversation; Vincent Kompany was at Tegernsee, he drove out there specifically for this, with Christoph Freund. Kompany said, ‘Uli, we need Xavi, we need Xavi, we need Xavi’,” he said.
The Bavarian club’s official wasted no time to dismiss the possibility of signing the 22-year-old from Leipzig. This allowed the north London club to swoop in for him late last summer.
“I had ordered an apple pie, or rather, it was already on the table, and I said, ‘Vince, you can have another piece of apple pie, but you’re not getting Xavi’,” Hoeneß explained.
He urged Kompany to focus on the club’s young talents.
“And he implemented that 100%,” he added.
Simons yet to impress for Spurs
The Dutchman hasn’t replicated his Bundesliga form at Tottenham Hotspur so far as he has four goals and five assists from 39 matches this season.
Last month, former Spurs star Rafael van der Vaart questioned Xavi Simons’ level as he expected more from his compatriot at Tottenham.
His Premier League stats are as follows:
Appearances: 29
Starts: 17
Total minutes: 1,616
Minutes per game: 62
Key passes per game: 1.2
Big chances created: 6
Shots on target per game: 0.3
Roberto De Zerbi and Tottenham will be hoping for the player to have a key role in helping them avoid relegation this season.