Xavi Simons failed to pull up any trees after being played out of position for the Netherlands against Poland, with the new Tottenham signing coming in for plenty of criticism from the media back in his home country.
Spurs fans will have to wait until after the international break to watch their brand-new £51m signing in a Tottenham shirt for the first time.
Simons has made it clear that he prefers playing as a number ten, but the 22-year-old has also been used on the left by RB Leipzig.
However, Ronald Koeman decided to use him in a role which is alien to the attacker against Poland on Friday and the Spurs man struggled to impact the game.
Dutch media did not like what they saw from Xavi Simons
Koeman decided to use Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo on the left side, with Manchester City’s Tijjani Reijnders operating as the number 10. He thus decided to use Simons on the right of a front three.
The Tottenham Hotspur man did try to occupy the half-spaces on the right, with Denzel Dumfries overlapping from right-back to give the Oranje width, but the young attacker struggled to influence the game, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Voetbal Primeur rated Simons at 5.5 out of 10 and wrote about his performance: “Was supposed to be a right winger, but by cutting inside a lot, he effectively functioned as a second striker. That didn’t work out so well. Simons had little to no say in the matter.”
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Algemeen Dagblad went with a 5 out of 10 rating, writing: “Spurs’ new signing had to make his mark this time on the right wing, replacing the injured Frimpong.
“Before halftime, he lost possession twice, giving Poland a counter-attack. His shot, delivered by Memphis Depay, also failed to make it 2-0. He was later substituted for Malen.”
Voetbal International rated Simons at just 5.5 out of 10, while Voetbalzone handed him just 4 out of 10.
Simons will get to play his favoured role at Tottenham
It will not be fair to judge the young attacker too harshly, given the position he was playing in. One would expect Simons to be handed his favoured number ten role at Tottenham.
With James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski on the treatment table, Simons will get a run in the side in the central role, and Spurs fans will be hoping that he can make the position his own.