Tottenham Hotspur have completed the signing of Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig.
The clubs agreed a deal worth €60million (£51.8m; $70m) for the 22-year-old Netherlands international attacker, who has signed a five-year contract at Spurs with the option of a further two seasons.
As part of this summer’s transfer coverage on The Athletic, in addition to breaking news, tactical analysis and in-depth reads, our Transfers TLDR series (you can read them all here) will bring you a quick guide to each of the key deals.
Give me his backstory in 100 words…
Considering that he has moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain to PSV, back to PSG, and then to RB Leipzig, played in two major tournaments, and drawn interest from most top clubs in Europe, it is quite easy to forget that Simons is only 22.
Even for the most talented of players, a creative midfielder who was lauded as the best 10-year-old footballer in the world and one of the top prospects in Europe while at Barcelona’s academy, the journey has not been straightforward. Simons left Barca for PSG aged 16, but after struggling for senior minutes, he moved on to PSV in 2022. A stellar season in his homeland saw the French club activate his buy-back clause. They immediately loaned him out to Leipzig.
Simons continued to excel in Germany, leading Leipzig to sign him permanently this January, but he informed them at the start of summer that he wished to leave. Now, his rollercoaster journey around Europe has landed him in north London.
Cerys Jones
What should and shouldn’t I expect to see?
Creativity is Simons’ major strength. The technique that made him internet-famous before his senior career truly took off is still there, and his reading of the game is superb. That, combined with direct pace on the transition, means Tottenham fans should expect to see him pulling the strings of their counter-attacks. He can also be a composed finisher.
Expect head coach Thomas Frank to take a little while to work out how to get the best from him. As my colleague Sebastian Stafford-Bloor has written, Simons played a very specific role at Leipzig that does not easily translate to many other clubs. At Spurs, the most obvious place for him is on the left wing, but Frank will want to make the most of his creativity, and that could involve rotation into central areas.
Cerys Jones
How will he fit in tactically?
Frank’s tactical flexibility and Simons’ versatility should make this a good match.
The Netherlands international can play as the No 10 that Tottenham need with James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski both lost to knee injuries for months to come, or as a left inside-forward in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Simons is a skilled chance creator when drifting into the half spaces with a keen eye for picking out team-mates in packed areas. That, along with his agility, dribbling and flair, helped him record 18 assists across the past two Bundesliga seasons, along with a healthy personal goals return.
Simons’ defensive work-rate is excellent too, with only Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen, Werder Bremen’s Romano Schmid and Granit Xhaka, also of Leverkusen, winning more possessions in the final third than his 51 in the German top flight across that same two-year period.
He is not the quickest, or the best crosser, and he has struggled against physical opposition, but Simons has the skill to thrive, much like Mikkel Damsgaard did for Frank’s Brentford side last season.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
What’s his injury record like?
Little to worry Spurs supporters here. Simons needed surgery on ligament damage in his left ankle last October after a Champions League game against Liverpool, which ruled him out until January, but he has no other significant injuries on his record.
Cerys Jones
Someone who knows him says…
“He’s really hungry,” Fred Rutten, who was an assistant coach at PSV during Simons’ time there, told The Athletic in 2023. “He wants to be the best. He’s only 20, but he can already read games. Not many players can do that at that age; they only think about themselves. He has something that not a lot of players have — they get nervous when they come into the box; he 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.”
Cerys Jones
What do we know about the finances of this deal?
Spurs have paid Leipzig €60million for Simons, who only completed a permanent move to the German side in January, when they signed him for €50m (£43.3m; $58.5m at current rates) from Paris Saint-Germain following a successful 18-month loan spell.
Simons has signed a five-year contract, committing to life in north London until June 2030, though the agreement includes an option to extend that by two further seasons.
Chris Weatherspoon
What impact will this have on both clubs’ PSR calculation?
Assuming agent costs of 10 per cent, alongside the Premier League’s transfer levy, Simons will cost Tottenham £59.1million in total fees. That is, obviously, before taking into account the cost of his weekly wage, which will push their overall expenditure on him a fair sight higher.
That £59.1million will be amortised across Simons’ five-year contract. Spurs will book £10.2m in amortisation costs in 2025-26, then £12.2m annually until the end of the 2029-30 season.
Simons joined Leipzig permanently just seven months ago, though the fact he only signed a two-and-a-half-year deal at that time means his book value has already declined a fair way. We estimate it at around £35.5million, once agent fees are added to the amount paid to Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG are due a sell-on fee from this deal, which is 10 per cent of any fee Leipzig earn above that €50million paid earlier this year. Leipzig’s earnings are reduced further as this is an international transfer, meaning five per cent of the £51.8m fee goes to clubs involved in Simons’ development between the ages of 12 and 23.
PSG’s sell-on clause entitles France’s European champions to around €0.8m (£700,000), and they’ll bank around a further €1.9m (£1.7m) in solidarity fees. Barcelona will get around €630,000 (£550,000) in those too, while PSV Eindhoven will see roughly €300,000 (£260,000).
After all that, Leipzig, who will retain a small portion of the solidarity fee, are able to book around €15.3m (£13.2m) profit on Simons in their 2025-26 financials.
Chris Weatherspoon
(Top photo: Getty Images)